THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 EX LIBRIS 
 ERNEST CARROLL MOORE
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 I. MEMOIR OF GEORGE HERIOT ; with the History of the Hos- 
 pital founded by him in Edinburgh ; and an Account of 
 the Heriot Foundation Schools. Foolscap 8vo, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Thie information is derived from the Records of the Institu- 
 tion, and documents equally authentic. Among other illustra- 
 tions prepared expressly for the volume, is a Plan of Edinburgh, 
 on which the lands of Heriot's Hospital are distinctly delineated. 
 The Appendix contains the Will of the Founder, Statutes of the 
 Hospital, and a variety of historical and statistical information. 
 
 II. THE HISTORY OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH, ROTTERDAM ; with 
 Notices of the other British Churches in the Netherlands. 
 8vo, 10s. 6d. 
 
 This work, illustrated with Engravings by the most eminent 
 artists in Holland, was drawn up on the Continent, after a 
 personal examination of original sources, which had previously 
 been in a great measure unexplored. 
 
 III. VIEW OF THE DUTCH ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT. 
 Third Edition, 8vo, 2s. 
 
 In the year 1839, the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed 
 Church in the Netherlands, addressed a letter printed in the 
 Acts of the Dutch Church to the General Assembly of the 
 Church of Scotland, in which this pamphlet is referred to for a 
 condensed and impartial account of their several ecclesiastical 
 judicatories.
 
 HISTORY 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 BY WILLIAM STEVEN, D.D., 
 
 MINISTEB OF TBINITTf COLLEGE PARISH, EDINBURGH ; 
 
 LATE HEAD MASTER OF HERIOT'S HOSPITAL, AND INSPECTOR OF 
 
 THE HERIOT FOUNDATION SCHOOLS. 
 
 vfl 
 
 EDINBURGH : MACLACHLAN & STEWART. 
 
 MDCCCXLIX.
 
 [ENTERED IN STATIONERS' HALL.] 
 
 MURRAY AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
 
 Stock 
 Annex 
 
 Sags* 
 
 35 
 
 TO, 
 
 JAMES PILLANS, ESQ., M.A., F.R.S\E., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF HUMANITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH, 
 
 TO THE CELEBRITY OF WHICH, 
 WHILE RECTOR OF THAT INSTITUTION, 
 
 HE SO LARGELY CONTRIBUTED, 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 
 BY HIS GRATEFUL PUPIL, 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 OP the HIGH SCHOOL of EDINBURGH, this work 
 comprises an historical account, founded on informa- 
 tion derived from a careful examination of the Records 
 of the Town-Council, and other authentic Documents. 
 This Seminary, which existed in the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century, was patronised by King James 
 the Sixth, in whose reign it was styled Schola Regia 
 Edinensis ; and George the Fourth recognised its 
 national importance by the bestowal of a handsome 
 donation. 
 
 As the work embraces much that is new respecting 
 the lives, peculiar modes of tuition, and literary labours 
 of the most eminent teachers, as well as brief notices 
 of persons of distinction and rank educated at the 
 High School, it is hoped that it will prove useful to 
 all engaged in the honourable and arduous task of in- 
 structing youth, and interesting to a large portion of 
 the public. 
 
 The changes which have occurred in the Course of 
 Study from the earliest period are embodied in the 
 narrative. But in order to give information more de- 
 cidedly of a practical character, a detailed account of 
 the system of education at present pursued in the junior 
 classes, prepared by Mr GUNN, one of the Masters, and 
 a similar account of the highest class, furnished by Dr 
 SCHMITZ, the Rector, occupy a distinct place. For these 
 valuable contributions the Author has to express his
 
 VIH PREFACE. 
 
 wannest thanks. Subjoined are specimens of School 
 Exercises in Greek, Latin, French, German, and En- 
 glish, during the Rectorships of Mr Pillans, Dr Carson, 
 and Dr Schmitz. 
 
 Dr WALTER ADAM, in the most liberal manner, 
 submitted to the Author's inspection the papers which 
 belonged to his father, the late Dr Alexander Adam, 
 long Rector of the School, and a distinguished or- 
 nament of his profession. From that literary repo- 
 sitory several letters and other documents have now 
 been printed for the first time. WILLIAM FRASER, 
 Esq., Writer to H. M. Signet, likewise communicated 
 some MSS. of his father, the late Mr Luke Fraser, 
 who, for nearly forty years, taught in the School with 
 no small commendation and success. 
 
 To the present learned Rector and his colleagues, 
 the Author's acknowledgments are more especially due, 
 for the great trouble which they have taken in reference 
 to this work ; and he begs to assure them, that they 
 have his best wishes for their continued success in those 
 important labours to which, he knows the public is well 
 aware, they are devoting their most strenuous exertions. 
 He is also much indebted to Professor PILLANS and 
 Dr CARSON, who were successively at the head of the 
 seminary ; as well as to Mr BENJAMIN MACKAY, one 
 of the Classical Masters, who several years ago retired 
 from public life. 
 
 Next to the pleasure which the Author derived in 
 receiving literary communications, is the gratification 
 which he experiences in now acknowledging, how- 
 ever inadequately, his sense of the obligation. He 
 would farther particularly mention with respectful gra- 
 titude, the very handsome manner in which the Re-
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 cords of the Town-Council were rendered accessible ; 
 and the extreme readiness which was manifested on the 
 part of all the officials to afford him every facility. 
 
 The Author may be allowed to acknowledge, that he 
 duly appreciates the communications he has received 
 from Lord BROUGHAM, and the Eight Hon. CHARLES 
 HOPE, both of whom obtained the highest honours of 
 the School in their respective years. He lies under 
 similar obligations to ADAM BLACK, Esq., the Rev. 
 Dr BRUNTON, ROBERT CHAMBERS, Esq., DR AN- 
 DREW CRICHTON, Sir JAMES FORREST, of Comis- 
 ton, Bart., JOSEPH GRANT, Esq., Writer to H. M. 
 Signet, LEONARD HORNER, Esq., Dr DAVID IRVING, 
 the Right Hon. WILLIAM JOHNSTON of Kirkhill, Lord 
 Provost of Edinburgh, DAVID LAING, Esq., the Very 
 Rev. Principal LEE, ALEXANDER MACDONALD, Esq., 
 Dr THOMAS MURRAY, the Rev. JOHN RAMSAY of 
 Gladsmuir, the Rev. HEW SCOTT of Anstruther Wes- 
 ter, ROBERT TAYLOR, Esq., Advocate, and DANIEL 
 WILSON, Esq. 
 
 In preparing this volume, the Author cherished an 
 earnest hope that it might exert a beneficial influence 
 on the minds of the present and future scholars, by 
 exciting them to persevere in the prosecution of their 
 studies, so as to equal if not surpass the acquisitions 
 of those who have preceded them, and thus contri- 
 bute to raise the celebrity of this venerable Insti- 
 tution. Another object which the Author had in 
 view, was to supply old pupils with a memorial, in 
 glancing at which they might occasionally revert to 
 the companions and exploits of their boyhood. Those 
 who have been educated at the High School, or other- 
 wise connected with it, may perhaps feel some degree
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 of interest in a work, which professes, for the first 
 time, to give the history of the Institution during the 
 lapse of nearly three centuries and a half. Such a re- 
 cord is fitted, not only to gratify a natural curiosity, 
 but to awaken agreeable recollections of the scenes, 
 associates, and exertions of early life. 
 
 The Appendix contains original Papers, historical, 
 statistical, and biographical, illustrative not merely of 
 the history of this seminary, but likewise of the literary 
 history of Scotland. 
 
 The Illustrations of the volume consist of a steel 
 engraving of the Elevation, and a Ground Plan, of 
 the School, which have been kindly prepared under 
 the superintendence of THOMAS HAMILTON, Esq., the 
 well-known architect. To these embellishments are 
 added wood-cuts of the three earlier buildings, and fac- 
 similes of the various school medals. A facsimile also 
 of a school exercise of Sir WALTEE SCOTT, when a 
 pupil in the Rector's class, can scarcely fail to be re- 
 garded as an interesting memorial. 
 
 Of the praiseworthy and indefatigable zeal of its 
 successive Patrons, and of the celebrity of its numerous 
 Teachers, ample notices will be found in the progress 
 of the work. In the roll of its Scholars are the names 
 of some of the most distinguished men of all profes- 
 sions, and who have filled important situations in all 
 parts of the world ; and it is a fact worth recording, 
 that it includes the names of three Chancellors of 
 England natives of Edinburgh Wedderburn, Ers- 
 kine, and Brougham. 
 
 MEADOW LODGE, 
 EDINBURGH, March 8, 1849.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 15191600. 
 
 Earliest Notices of Grammar Schools in Scotland, page 2 ; The first 
 Latin School for Edinburgh meets at Holyrood House, under the im- 
 mediate patronage of the Abbot, 3 ; David Vocat, Henry Henryson, 
 Adam Melville, and Sir John Allan, successively at the head of the 
 Seminary, 4 ; School removed from the Abbey to Blackfriar's Wynd, 
 6 ; The Reformation, and its beneficial effects on the Literature of 
 Scotland, 7 ; Ineffectual attempts to displace William Robertouu, a 
 Roman Catholic, from the Mastership, 8 ; The Town-Council fruit- 
 lessly endeavour to obtain James "White, a Teacher in London, 10 ; 
 Queen Mary writes to the Council in Robertoun's behalf, and he is 
 continued, 10 ; He reluctantly withdraws, 11 ; Thomas Buchanan ap- 
 pointed in his stead, 11 ; Buchanan successfully prosecutes the Town- 
 Council before the Court of Session for non-fulfilment of their agree- 
 ment, 11 ; His Resignation and future history, 12 ; Resumption of 
 Office by the former Master ; The Magistrates receive a grant from 
 the Crown of all Patronages belonging to Convents within the Royalty, 
 13 ; A School-house provided in the Kirk of Field at the City's ex- 
 pense, 14 ; Tumultuous behaviour of the Boys ; Retirement of Rober- 
 toun on a Pension, 15 ; Hercules Rollock is chosen, 15 ; Insurrection 
 of his Pupils, 19 ; A Writing-Master appointed ; Inquiry into the 
 State of the School, 22 ; Great Barring-out, when Bailie John Mac- 
 moran was shot by William Sinclair, one of the Scholars, 23 ; Dismis- 
 sal of Hercules Rollock, the Head- Master, 27 ; Appointment of Alex- 
 ander Hume in his place, 29; Mode of conducting the Grammar 
 School of Aberdeen in the middle of the Sixteenth Century, 31 ; 
 Course of Study in the High School in 1598 ; Text-books, and School- 
 fees, 34 ; Dramatic Performances by the Masters and their Pupils, 
 37 ; John Balfour, and Robert Steven, Doctors or Teachers, 39.
 
 XH CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 16011700. 
 
 Rash and fruitless attempt to reduce the number of teachers in the 
 High School. Writings of Alexander Hume, page 41 ; He leaves 
 Edinburgh to superintend the School at Prestonpans, 42 ; Notice of 
 that School, 43; Hume's Latin Grammar, 44; He becomes school- 
 master of Dunbar, 45 ; His interview with King James at Dunglass, 
 46; John Ray, professor of Humanity in the University of Edin- 
 burgh, succeeds Hume in the High School, 47 ; David Will, William 
 Spang, Archibald Douglas, and Archibald Newton, subordinate 
 teachers, 48; Death of Ray; .The Mastership is conferred on 
 Thomas Crawford, Professor of Humanity, 49 ; Account of his Exami- 
 nation when a Candidate for the Professorship, 50 ; Entry of King 
 Charles I. into Edinburgh, 52 ; The High School in Crawford's time, 
 54 ; He returns to the University to occupy the Mathematical chair ; 
 William Spence, from Prestonpans, is appointed in his room, 57 ; 
 Course of study in the High School, 58 ; Hew Wallace chosen Head 
 Master, in the place of Spence ; Grammar School of Haddington, 59 ; 
 Death of Wallace ; John Muir elected, 61 ; Grammar School of 
 Perth ; Salaries of the High School teachers ; They take the oath 
 of fidelity, 62 ; The boys are taught in Lady Tester's Church during 
 the repair of the school-house, damaged by Cromwell's troops, 63 ; 
 Library established in the High School, 64 ; Donations to the Li- 
 rary; Principal Leighton's proposal relative to the endowment of 
 Grammar Schools in Scotland, 65; Professor Thomas Crawford is 
 recommended by the Town-Council to prepare a Latin Rudiments ; 
 Candlemas gifts to the teachers, 66 ; John Hume, minister of Lesma- 
 hago, chosen to fill the Mastership, 68 ; A gallery in Lady Tester's 
 Church, and subsequently in Trinity College Church, set apart for 
 the use of the High School boys and their teachers, 69 ; John Hume's 
 Latin Grammar; Private teaching in Edinburgh, 70; The Masters 
 and their Pupils appear at the City Chambers, petitioning for holi- 
 days ; Granted, on a peculiar condition ; David Ferguson, a nominee 
 of General Monk, succeeds Hume, 71 ; Act in favour of the High 
 School, 72 ; Death of Ferguson, and election of Andrew Rutherford ; 
 Grammar School of Jedburgh; Alexander Heriot becomes Head- 
 Master; Ascension of the classes, 73; Heriot and one of his doctors 
 removed from office, for nonconformity to Episcopacy, 74; Archi- 
 bald Guillane chosen Head-Master, and Robert Blaw, doctor, in their 
 stead ; Act discharging Private Schools ; William Skene succeeds 
 Guillane, 75 ; Salary of the teachers augmented ; The Magistrates
 
 CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 change the Latin Rudiments, and the hours of teaching, 76 ; The 
 Cauongate Grammar School destroyed by fire, and its Master per- 
 mitted to take a house in town for the accommodation of his scholars, 
 77 ; Prizes given by the Council at the annual examination of the 
 High School, 78. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 17011800. 
 
 Changes in the designation of the Teachers; Mr John Johnstone 
 ' elected a teacher ; Recommendation in favour of the Writing Master, 
 page 80 ; Special Visitation of the School, 81 ; The literary acquire- 
 ments of the Masters tested in presence of the Magistrates ; Re- 
 port by the Principal and the Professors on the state of the High 
 School, 82 ; Election of Mr George Arbuthnot and of Mr John Ker 
 to Masterships, 87; Riot at the School; Mr Robert Spence, of 
 Montrose, chosen as one of the Classical Teachers; Death of Mr 
 Skene, and Mr George Arbuthnot promoted to the Rectorship, 88 ; 
 Mr John Ker is appointed Professor of Greek in King's College, 
 Aberdeen ; David Malloch or Mallet, Janitor of the School, 89 ; 
 The Teachers to hold office during pleasure ; Private Schools, 
 91 ; The College Committee charged with the affairs of the High 
 School; Mr John Love elected one of the Masters, and Mr John 
 Lees, Rector, 92 ; School Fees, 93 ; Complaints touching the School, 
 and a Teacher rebuked, 94; Provident Society of Teachers insti- 
 tuted by Ruddiman; Mr John Rae elected a Master, 95; No- 
 tice of William Lauder, 96; Mr John Love accepts of the Rec- 
 torship of Dalkeith Grammar School, 97 ; Mr James Anderson 
 succeeds Mr Love; Mr James Barclay, who was chosen in the 
 place of Mr Spence, shortly after leaves for Dalkeith, 98 ; Verses 
 composed for the anniversary meeting of his Scholars, 99 ; Mr John 
 Gilchrist is appointed as Mr Barclay's successor in the High School ; 
 Provost Drummond's favourable statement regarding the School, 
 100 ; Salaries of the Masters augmented ; Another favourable re- 
 port relative to the School, 101; Hours of teaching; Mr Robert 
 Farquhar succeeds Mr Anderson ; Mr Henry Mackenzie's Recol- 
 lections of the School, 102; Election of Mr Alexander Bartlet to 
 a Mastership, 104 ; Mr Alexander Matheson appointed Rector, 106 ; 
 The Rector and the four Masters made honorary burgesses and 
 guild brethren, 107 ; Mr Luke Fraser chosen in the room of Mr 
 Gilchrist; Mr Alexander Adam is entrusted with the charge of
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 the Rector's class during the indisposition of Mr Matheson, 108; 
 They are elected Joint- Rectors, after trial and approval of Mi- 
 Adam's literary qualifications, 114 ; Notices of Mr Matheson, 115 ; 
 Extract from Mr Adam's MS. Memoranda relative to his Latin Gram- 
 mar, 116; An official communication from Principal Robertson re- 
 monstrating against the Rector of the High School being allowed to 
 teach Greek, and to retain the boys a second year in his class, 119 ; 
 Appointment of Mr William Cruickshank in the room of Mr Far- 
 quhar; Election of Mr William Nicol in stead of Mr Bartlet, 122; 
 The citizens raise funds for the erection of a new School-house ; 
 Concurrence of the Town- Council, 122; Foundation stone laid, 
 124; Eminent services rendered on that occasion by Sir William 
 Forbes, Bart., and others, 125 ; Notice of Mr John Maclure, 128 ; 
 School Exercise by Sir Walter Scott, and his Reminiscences of the 
 High School, 129 ; Mode of conducting the Rector's class, 132 ; The 
 Earl of Buchan's Speech in the High School, 134 ; Appointment of 
 Mr Alexander Christison in the place of Mr James French; Dean 
 Vincent's correspondence with Dr Adam, 135; Lieut.-Col. Mur- 
 ray or Macgregor founds a Gold Medal, 139 ; Mr James Cririe suc- 
 ceeds Mr Cruickshank, 144 ; Mr William Ritchie elected in the room 
 of Mr Nicol; Messrs Dugald and Allan Masterton, and Dugald 
 Masterton, jun., chosen Writing Masters, 145 ; Dr Adam's account of 
 his own experience as a teacher, particularly in the High School, 146. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 18011849. 
 
 Resignation of Mr Cririe ; Appointment of Mr James Gray in his place ; 
 Mr Andrew M'Keau elected teacher of Writing and Arithmetic, page 
 154; Reminiscences of Mr Benjamin Mackay, 155; School fees; Mr 
 Luke Fraser resigns, and is succeeded by Mr George Irvine ; Lite- 
 rary Society, 160 ; Mr Alexander Christison is promoted to the 
 Chair of Humanity in the University, and the Mastership which he 
 held is conferred upon Mr Aglionby R. Carson, 163; Death of Dr 
 Adam, 166; His character and eminent services to the school ; Mr 
 James Pillans chosen to the vacant Rectorship, 172 ; Mr A. N. Car- 
 michael's Recollections of the High School, 173 ; Resolution of the 
 Magistrates to award a Gold Medal annually to the best Greek 
 scholar ; College-Bailie's Medal for Penmanship, 191 ; An Ameri- 
 can's account of his visit to the High School, 192 ; Resignation of Mi- 
 Ritchie, and Mr Samuel Lindsay chosen in his stead ; Mr Pillans ob-
 
 CONTEXTS. XV 
 
 tains the Professorship of Humanity, 194 ; Mr J. B. Patterson's Re- 
 collections of the High School, 195; Mr Carson is placed in the 
 Rector's chair, and to the vacant Mastership Mr Benjamin Mackay 
 is appointed ; Mr Gray, one of the Masters, is declared, by way of 
 experiment, sole teacher of Greek in the seminary, 205 ; Act of Council 
 rescinded, and the Rector and other Masters are again authorized to 
 teach Greek ; Mr Gray obtains the office of Principal in the Belfast In- 
 stitution ; His place in the High School is supplied by the appointment 
 of Mr William Pyper, 206 ; Preliminary steps towards the erection of 
 new buildings for the School, 207 ; Presentation of the Philp Gold Medal, 
 208 ; Colonel John Macdonald endows a Medal for the Dux of the 
 third class, 209 ; A Gold Medal founded conformably to the Will of Mr 
 Ritchie, 211 ; Mr (now Lord) Brougham's opinion of the High School, 
 212; Resolution of the Town-Council to erect a new central school 
 on the Calton Hill, 213 ; Proceedings at the laying of the foundation 
 stone, 214 ; Architectural description of the plan, 222 ; Donation of 
 King George IV., 225 ; Regulations enacted by the Patrons in 1827, 
 22C ; Death of Mr Andrew M'Kean ; Is succeeded by his son as 
 teacher of Writing and Book-keeping ; Arithmetic and Geometry as- 
 signed to a special Master, and Mr Walter Nichol elected to give 
 .instruction in those branches, 227 ; Last public examination in the 
 old High School, 228; Mr Irvine retires, and Dr James Boyd 
 elected as his successor, 229 ; Poetical Valedictory to the old High 
 School, 230 ; Opening of the New School, and Speeches delivered 
 on that occasion, 231 ; Resignation of Mr Nichol, and Mr George 
 Lees chosen in his place, 248; Address of the Rev. Dr Bruntou 
 at the annual examination, 249; School Regulations sanctioned in 
 1834, 250 ; The French language introduced into the Course of Study, 
 and M. F. Senebier chosen as teacher ; Mr William Moffat elected 
 in the room of Mr Lees, 251 ; Addresses by the Rev. Dr John Lee, 
 and Professor Pillans, 252 ; M. Victor de Fivas elected in place of 
 M. Senebier, who resigned ; Mr Alexander M'Kean resigns, and 
 is succeeded by Mr William Cooper ; Address of Sir James Forrest, 
 Bart., 253; Resignation of Messrs Mackay and Lindsay, Classical 
 Masters, and appointment of Mr William W. Carmichael in the 
 room of the former, and Mr William M. Gunn in that of the latter, 
 255 ; Class for Calisthenics and Fencing established, 256 ; Mr John 
 Macmillan succeeds Dr Pyper, who is promoted to a Chair in the 
 University of St Andrews, 257 ; Address of Lord Provost Black at the 
 annual examination, 260 ; A Class for the German language esta- 
 blished, and Dr Aue chosen teacher ; Retirement of Dr Carson, 262 ; 
 Appointment and Installation of Dr Leonhard Schmitz as Rector, 
 264; Death of Mr W. W. Carmichael; and his nephew, Mr John 
 Carmichael, chosen in his stead; Natural History and Chemistry 
 introduced into the curriculum of the High School, 270; Closing 
 Remarks, 271.
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH, MARCH 
 
 1849,* 272 
 
 SYSTEM OF EDUCATION PURSUED IN THE JUNIOR CLASSES OF THE 
 HIGH SCHOOL, FURNISHED BY MR GUNN, ONE OF THE MASTERS, 273 
 
 SYSTEM OF EDUCATION PURSUED IN THE RECTOR'S CLASS, FUR- 
 NISHED BY DR SCHMITZ, 291 
 
 Regulations for the External Discipline of the High School, . 297 
 
 Table of Fees, and Hours of Instruction, . . 304 
 
 SPECIMENS OF CLASS EXERCISES BY PUPILS IN THE HIGII SCHOOL. 
 
 I. Rectorship of Mr Pillans 1810-1820. 
 
 Remarks on the proper subjects for School Exercises, being a 
 communication hitherto unpublished, written in September 
 1811 by the late Francis Horner, Esq., M.P., and addressed to 
 
 Mr Pillans, 306 
 
 Specimens of Latin Verse, \ 309 
 
 Greek Verse, 316 
 
 English Verse, 317 
 
 II. Rectorship ofDr Carson 1820-1845. 
 
 Specimens of Latin Verse, 320 
 
 Valedictory Address, in the Latin language, by the late Geo. A. 
 
 Taylor, dux of the School in 1827, 333 
 
 Reply of Dr Carson, the Rector, 335 
 
 Specimens of Greek Verse, 336 
 
 English Verse, 337 
 
 III. Rectorship ofDr Schmitz, commencing January 1846. 
 
 Specimens of Latin Verse, 353 
 
 Greek Verse, 354 
 
 English Verse, 355 
 
 Misprinted in text 1848, instead of 1849.
 
 CONTENTS. XV 11 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. EXCERPTS FROM THE RECORD OF THE TOWN-COUNCIL or 
 EDINBURGH REGARDING THE HIGH SCHOOL, page 1. 
 
 II. ROYAL PRESENTATIONS TO THE OFFICE or HEAD-MASTER. 
 
 1. By JAMES V. in favour of HENRY HENRYSON M.A., dated 
 
 March 21st 1529-30, page 38. 
 
 2. By the Regent Murray, for JAMES VI., April 23d 1569, rati- 
 
 fying the Town-Council's appointment in August 1568, of 
 THOMAS BUCHANAN, M.A., 41. 
 
 III. ACT OF THE COURT OF SESSION, JULY GTH 1570, IN THE PRO- 
 
 CESS, THOMAS BUCHANAN, contra THE MAGISTRATES, COUN- 
 CIL, AND COMMUNITY OF EDINBURGH (from MS. Register), 42. 
 
 IV. CONTRACT BETWIXT THE TOWN OF EDINBURGH, AND HERCULES 
 
 ROLLOCK, M.A., PRINCIPAL MASTER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, 
 DATED MAY 29TH 1584, 44. 
 
 V. ACT OF THE PRIVY-COUNCIL OF SCOTLAND RELATIVE TO A TU- 
 MULT IN THE SCHOOL, SEPTEMBER 15m 1595, WHEN JOHN 
 MACMORAN, A MAGISTRATE OF EDINBURGH, WAS SHOT BY 
 WILLIAM SINCLAIR, ONE OF THE SCHOLARS, 47. 
 
 VI. CHRONOLOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL CATALOGUE OF THE TEACH- 
 ERS FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SCHOOL TO THE PRE- 
 SENT TIME. 
 
 1. Head-Masters or Rectors from 1519 to 1845. D. Vocat, H. 
 
 Henryson, A. Melville, Sir J. Allan, W. Robertoun, T. Bu- 
 chanan, 50; H. Rollock, A. Hume, 51; J. Ray, 52; T. 
 Crawford, 63 ; W. Spence, H. Wallace, J Muir, J. Hume, 
 D. Ferguson, A. Rutherford, A. Heriot, A. Guillone or 
 Guillane, W. Skene, G. Arbuthnot, 54 ; J. Lees, A. Matheson, 
 A. Adam, 55 ; J. Pillans, 65; A. R. Carson, 69 ; L. Schmitz, 
 78. 
 
 2. Doctors or Classical Masters from 1588 to 1848. G. Hastie, 
 
 L. Peacock, P. Hislop, G. Kirk wood, J. Balfour, R. Steven, 
 J. Trueshill, J. Logan, A. Read, D. Will, T. Lawson, W. 
 Spang, 83 ; R. Fairlie, J. Hodge, A. Douglas, A. Newton, 
 84 ; D. Bishop, J. Adamson, J. Bowie, J. Elliot, J. Lang- 
 lands, J. Carnmure, R. Lowrie, T. Pillans, J. Forrester, F. 
 ' Cockburne, J Whytlaw, 85; R. Livingstone. S. MacCorne,
 
 XV ill CONTENTS. 
 
 J. Ritchie, J. Brown, J. Vernor, A. Burton, R. Jack or Jack- 
 son, J. Anderson, J. Scot, J. Scott, R. Blaw, 86 ; A. Forsyth, 
 G. Burnet, J. Johnstone, J. Ford, T. Tait, D. Whyte, J. 
 Fullerton, D. Darling, A. Skene, W. Muir, J. Anderson, J. 
 Goodall, J. Anderson, 87 ; P. Middleton, J. Maitland, J. Ar- 
 roll, J. Johnstone, jun., H. Crawford, T. Watt, G. Ar- 
 buthnot, W. Hadden or Haldane, J. Tait or Tate, J. Ker, 
 88 ; J. Paterson, R. Spence, A. Findlater, J. Gibb, J. Win- 
 gate, J. Lees, J. Love, 89 ; W. Creech, 90 ; J. Rae, J. An- 
 derson, J. Barclay, J. Gilchrist, 91 ; R. Farquhar, A. Bart - 
 let, J. French, L. Fraser, 92; W. Cruickshank, W. Nicol, 
 94 ; A. Christison, 96 ; J. Cririe, 100 ; W. Ritchie, 101 ; J. 
 Gray, 103 ; G. Irvine, 107 ; A. R. Carson, S. Lindsay, B. 
 Mackay, 108; W. Pyper, 109; J. Boyd, W. W. Carmichael, 
 110; W. M. Gunn, J. Macmillan, 113; J. Carmichael, 114. 
 
 3. Order of the Succession of the Classical Masters in their re- 
 
 spective Classes, 114. 
 
 4. French Masters from 1834. F. Setiebier, p. 115; V. de Fivas, 
 
 116. 
 
 5. German Master. 1845. C. E. Aue, 11G. 
 
 6. Teachers of Writing and Book-keeping from 1593 to 1837. W. 
 
 Murdo or Murdoch, A. Fleming, D. King, D. Brown, 119 ; 
 N. Arthur, M. Shanks, J. Baxter, A. Herries, J. Alexander, 
 R. Godskirk, J. MacLure, E. Butterworth, G. Paton, D. 
 Masterton, A. Masterton, 120 ; D. Masterton, jun., A. Dow, 
 And. M'Kean, Alex. M'Kean, W. Cooper, 121. 
 
 7. Teachers of Arithmetic and Mathematics from 1828 to 1834. 
 
 W. Nichol, G. Lees, W. Moffat, 121. 
 
 8. Teachers of Gymnastics and Fencing. 1843. G. Roland, G. 
 
 Roland, jun., 122. 
 
 9. Lecturer on Natural History. 1849. W. Rhind, 178. 
 10. Lecturer on Chemistry. 1849 J. Murray, 178. 
 
 VII. ABSTRACT OF THE ANNUAL ENROLMENT OF SCHOLARS IN THE 
 HIGH SCHOOL FROM THE IEAR 1738 TO 1848, p. 122. 
 
 VIII. LISTS OF THE HEAD BOTS OR DUXES AT THE ANNUAL EXAMI- 
 NATIONS. 
 
 RECTOR'S CLASS. 
 
 1. Duxes from the year 1776 to 1793. D. Miller, C. Hope, J. Ban- 
 antine, R. Dick, 130 ; A. Storie, J. Brown, A. Forrest, J. 
 Buchan, J. M. Clowes, W. Forbes, J. Waugh, T. E. Sutherland, 
 C. Cunningham, 131 ; G. Ross, P. Wishart, H. Brougham, 
 F. Horuer, 132; A. Scott, 133.
 
 CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 2. Macgregor (formerly Murray) Medallists for LATIN from 1794 
 
 to 1848. W. Taylor, 133 ; J. H. Wishart, A. J. Caverhill, 
 A. Aikman, T. Walker, R. P. Hollo, S. M'Cormack, 134 ; Sir 
 G. Clerk, Bart., W. S. Beatson, A. D. Y. Arbuthnott, G. 
 Forbes, A. Rutherfurd, 135; H. Biggar, M. P. Brown, J. 
 Stainton, W. Bain, R. Knox, A. N. Carmichael, 136; J. 
 Campbell, W. Cullen, C. Neaves, J. Edmondston, R. Menzies, 
 W. Glover, G. W. Mylne, E. Logan, J. B. Patterson, 137 ; 
 P. C. MDougall, W. U. Arbuthnot, W. M. Gunn, 138 ; W. 
 Gowan, A. A. Bonar, J. Millar, G. A. Taylor, J. Smith, J. 
 Cauvin, 139; J. W. Nicholson, W. H. Goold, T. S. Borth- 
 wick, W. Nelson, J. Milne, J. Renton, "W. Wilson, J. M. Rus- 
 sell, 140 ; J. Sanders, J. Maclaren, W. Stark, J. Dougall, R. 
 S. Button, P. G. White, 141 ; A. Mure, P. Cosens, A. Muir, 
 C. R. Scott, R. Johnston, 142. 
 
 3. City Medallists for GREEK, from 1814 to 1848. A. Ross, J. Ed- 
 
 mondston, G. Napier (twice), 142 ; G. W. Mylne, J. Pringle, 
 J. B. Patterson, A. Hog, W. Mirtle, 143 ; J. Murray, B. Bell, 
 J. Thomson, J. Millar, G. A. Taylor, D. Ogilvy, J. Cauvin, 
 J. W. Nicholson, G. S. Davidson, T. S. Borthwick, 144 ; W. 
 Nelson, J. Young, J. Renton, J. Ferrier, W. Shaw, T. M. 
 Dickson, 145 ; J. Maclaren, W. Stark, R. Scott, R. S. Hut- 
 ton, J. Fowler, A. Mure, P. Cosens, 146; A. Muir, C. R. 
 Scott, R. Johnston, 147. 
 
 SUBORDINATE LATIN CLASSES. 
 
 4. Macdonald or THIRD Year Medallists from 1824 to 1848. J. 
 
 Whyte, G. Cotton, J. Cauvin, J. W. Nicholson, W. H. Goold, 
 J. Baillie, J. A. Huie, 147 ; J. Young, W. Milligan, T. M 
 Haswell, W. Montgomery, D. Sinclair, A. Lawrie, A. Came- 
 ron, A. Robertson, R. S. Button, 148; J. Cuthbertson, J. 
 Bates, J. Glen, A. Muir, C. R. Scott, W. L. Lindsay, J. Fraser, 
 E. L. Nelson, J. Young, 149. 
 
 .5. Ritchie Medallists from 1824 to 1848. G. Cotton (twice), 149 ; 
 J. Smith, J. Bailiie (thrice), T. S. Borthwick, T. M. Haswell, 
 W. Wilson (thrice), A. Cameron (thrice), A. Thomson, J. 
 Bates (thrice), R. C. H. Macduff, W. Paul, 150 ; W. L. Lindsay 
 (twice), R. Johnston, G. Smith (twice), 151. 
 
 , WRITING CLASS. 
 
 6. College-Bailie Medallists from 1814 to 1834. A. Crombie, B. 
 W. Crombie, List of Mr Andrew M'Kean's Medallists (Note), 
 151 ; E. Logan, G. Milroy, T. Patullo, B. Logan, J. Cold- 
 stream, R. Dennistoun, T. Cornwall, J. Abercromby, W. T. 
 Trotter, W. D. Hannay, 152; J. R. Burt, G. Shaw, T. Mac- 
 knight, J. Turnbull,E. Warren, J. Stewart, A. E. Macknight, 
 153 ; E. J. Simpson, R. W. Davidson, 154.
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 IX. LIST OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PRINTED " COURSE OF 
 STUDY " IN THE HIQH SCHOOL, FROM 1821 TO 1848, page 154. 
 
 X. PLAN OF EDUCATION PRACTISED IN THE HIGH SCHOOL BY BENJA- 
 MIN MACKAY, M.A., AND, IN SUBSTANCE, RECOMMENDED BY 
 HIM TO THE PATRONS OF THE INSTITUTION IN THE YEAR 1834, 
 166. 
 
 XI. CATALOGUE OF A FEW PERSONS OF EMINENCE AND RANK, EDU- 
 CATED AT THE HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH, 203. 
 
 EMBELLISHMENTS. 
 
 Arms of the City of Edinburgh, . . . Title-Page. 
 
 Views of the various High School Buildings 
 
 1. In Blackfriars' Wynd, prior to 1578, . . .6 
 
 2. In the Kirk of Field, from 1578 to 1777, . . 14 
 
 3. In Infirmary Street, from 1777 to 1829, . . 123 
 
 4. On the Calton Hill since 1829, . . . Frontispiece. 
 
 5. Ground-Plan of the present School, .... 224 
 
 Carved Stone, part of the School of 1578, . . . .39 
 
 Murray or Macgregor Annual Medal, .... 140 
 
 City Annual Medal for Greek, ..... 190 
 
 Philp Medal, worn daily by the Dux of the Rector's Class, . . 208 
 
 Macdonald Annual Medal, ...... 210 
 
 Ritchie Annual Medal, ...... 211 
 
 Facsimile of a School Exercise by Sir Walter Scott, Bart., July 1783, 131 
 Facsimile of the Signatures of Hercules Rollock, Rector of the 
 
 School, and of the Provost of Edinburgh, 1584, APPENDIX, . 46
 
 THE HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 15191600. 
 
 Earliest notices of Grammar Schools in Scotland The first Latin 
 School for Edinburgh meets at Holyrood. David Vocat, Henry 
 Henryson, Adam Melville, and Sir John Allan, successively at the head 
 of the Seminary. School removed from the Abbey to Blackfriars' 
 "\Vynd. The Reformation, and its beneficial effects on the literature 
 of Scotland. Ineffectual attempts to displace William Robertoun, a 
 Roman Catholic, from the Mastership. The Town-Council fruitlessly 
 endeavour to obtain James White, a teacher in London Queen Mary 
 writes to the Town-Council in Robertoun's behalf, and he is continued. 
 He reluctantly withdraws. Thomas Buchanan appointed in his 
 stead. Buchanan successfully prosecutes the Town-Council before 
 the Court of Session for non-fulfilment of their agreement. His 
 resignation, and future history. Resumption of office by the former 
 Master. The Magistrates receive a grant from the Crown of all pa- 
 tronages belonging to convents within the royalty. A Schoolhouse 
 provided in the Kirk of Field at the City's expense. Tumultuous 
 behaviour of the boys. Retirement of Robertoun on a pension. 
 Hercules Rollock is chosen. Insurrection of his pupils. A Writing- 
 -M aster appointed. Inquiry into the state of the School. Great 
 barring-out, when Bailie John Macmoran was shot by one of the 
 scholars. Dismissal of Hercules Rollock, the Head-Master, and ap- 
 pointment of Alexander Hume in his place. Grammar School of 
 Aberdeen. Course of Study, and Theatrical exhibitions in the High 
 School. John Balfour, and Robert Steven, doctors or teachers. 
 
 SCOTLAND had schools in her principal towns so early as the 
 twelfth century. Previously to that period, and for several 
 succeeding generations, scholastic knowledge could be ac-
 
 2 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 quired only within the walls of the cloister. All our literary 
 establishments, indeed, were at first intended exclusively 
 for the education of ecclesiastics. Many of the inmates 
 unceasingly devoted that portion of their time, which was 
 not occupied in the higher duties of their vocation, in mul- 
 tiplying copies of the legends of the saints, some of which 
 remain, and furnish striking proofs of their industry and 
 misdirected labour ; others, however, were more profitably 
 employed in transcribing the written memorials of Roman 
 greatness, and in thus handing down to the more secure 
 era of printing the classical remains of antiquity. 
 
 In the year 1173, Perth and Stirling had their schools, 
 of which the monks of Dunfermline were directors. Au- 
 thentic records introduce us to similar institutions in the 
 towns of Aberdeen and Ayr. It moreover appears from 
 the cartulary of Kelso, that the schools in the county of 
 Roxburgh were under the care of the monks of Kelso during 
 the reign of David the First ; and that the rectorship of 
 the schools of the last-mentioned town was an established 
 office in 1241. The schools of St Andrews were under the 
 charge of a rector in 1233. The accounts of the Chamber- 
 lain of Scotland show that a sum of money was given by 
 Robert the First in 1329, the very year in which that 
 patriotic monarch died, for the support of the schools of 
 Montrose. 1 Facts such as these are exceedingly interest- 
 ing, as illustrative of the gradual progress of education 
 and literature in Scotland, and offer a very extensive subject 
 of investigation. 2 Into that field of historical research the 
 writer of the following pages does not presume to enter. 
 
 1 Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 353-4. 8vo. 
 
 2 Much valuable information on this subject will be found in the 
 " Acts of Parliament and of the Privy Council of Scotland relative to 
 the establishing and maintaining of schools, from the year 1496 to the 
 year 1696," inserted in the Miscellany of the Maitland Club, vol. ii. part 
 i., pp. 1-50.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 3 
 
 but proceeds at once to that portion of our literary history, 
 which it is the object of the present volume to illustrate. 
 
 The Grammar School of Edinburgh was originally at- 
 tached to the neighbouring abbey of Holyrood. King 
 David the First, to whom Scotland was indebted for 
 many of her rich ecclesiastical endowments, founded that 
 monastery. Holyrood being the principal place near the 
 capital where education could be obtained, the citizens 
 embraced the privilege of having such of their sons as 
 were destined for secular employments, instructed along 
 with the future clergy. It is probable that this seminary 
 was at first open only to the young nobility and a favoured 
 few, whose influence at Court enabled them to gain admit- 
 tance. In order therefore to supply the increasing demand, 
 and likewise to retain the unmixed and sacred character 
 of the institution, those friars, whose presence could most 
 easily be dispensed with in the monastery, were allowed to 
 become public teachers within the city. 
 
 The earliest mention of the Grammar School of Edin- 
 burgh occurs in the town-council records for the year 
 1519, when the civic authorities enjoined all parents and 
 guardians, under pain of incurring a heavy fine, to place 
 their youth under the master of the principal school. 1 
 David Vocat, clerk and orator of the convent, was, at this 
 period, at the head of the seminary. On the 4th Septem- 
 ber 1524, George Crichton, bishop of Dunkeld, as abbot 
 of Holyrood, with the consent of that monastery, nomi- 
 nated Henry Henryson, as coadjutor and successor to 
 
 1 APPENDIX, No. I. As this article consists exclusively of Excerpts 
 tVoin the Record of the Town-Council of Edinburgh, chronologically 
 arranged, it may be proper to mention, that when a reference is in 
 future made to that record, the date only of the minute will be given, 
 and, where necessary, additional particulars will be inserted in the 
 Appendix.
 
 4 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Vocat. From a charter granted by James the Fiftli in the 
 year 1529, ratifying and embodying this appointment, it 
 appears, that Henryson, once the pupil of Vocat, had suc- 
 cessfully taught the grammar school of the contiguous 
 borough of Canongate ; that his old preceptor, who highly 
 appreciated his talents, had recommended him as a fit asso- 
 ciate in a situation which he himself had long worthily 
 filled, but for the right performance of his duties he now 
 found himself disabled by advanced age ; that Henryson 
 Avas to have the sole privilege of instructing the youth of 
 the Scottish metropolis in classical learning ; and that he 
 was* enjoined to attend at the abbey in his surplice, to 
 assist at " hie solempne festuale tymes," and to be present 
 " at the hie mess and evin sang," and make himself other- 
 wise useful in the chapel. 1 
 
 From the terms of a complaint by the magistrates of the 
 Canongate to the Privy Council in 1580, there existed 
 in their borough a grammar school, " not only sin refor- 
 mation of religion, bot also in tyme of Papistrie, and past 
 the memorie of man." It was long a celebrated seminary 
 of learning. At one period the appointment was esteemed 
 of such value, that a professor of Humanity in the Metro- 
 politan University embraced a call to the grammar school 
 of the Canongate. 2 
 
 According to Archbishop Spottiswood, 3 Henry Henry- 
 
 1 APPENDIX, No. II. 
 
 2 Crawford's History of the University of Edinburgh, pp. 125, 129. 
 On the 15th September 1568, there was a royal ratification of the deed 
 of " Robert, commendatore of Halirudhous, makand Maister Robert 
 Dormond, maister of the grammer scole within the burgh of the Canno- 
 <rait for his lyftyme." He was to teach his scholars " grammer, retorick, 
 and poetrie, and to hald scole quhaireuir lie pleisis within the said 
 burgh." (Register of the Privy Seal, xxxviii. 19.) The Canongate 
 grammar school, of which the patronage was first vested in the local 
 magistrates April 5, 1580, (Miscel. of the Maitland Club, vol. i. part ii. 
 p. 345), was abolished in the year 1822. 
 
 3 History of the Church and State of Scotland, p. 66. Lond. 1677, fol. 

 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 5 
 
 son, with many others, publicly abjured Popery in the year 
 1534. He must however have left the High School of 
 Edinburgh before he became a protestant; for Adam 
 Melville was head-master in 1531. Little is known of the 
 person last mentioned ; but it is believed he was of the same 
 family which, fourteen years later, had the honour to pro- 
 duce Andrew Melville, " the first Scotchman who added 
 a taste for elegant literature to an extensive acquaintance 
 with theology." l He came under a singular engagement ; 
 binding himself to make his scholars perfect grammarians 
 in the brief space of three years. 2 It is much to be regretted 
 that we have no means of ascertaining what were Adam 
 Melville's ideas of grammatical perfection, and that the 
 process, by which he attained a consummation so devoutly 
 to be wished, has not been handed down to his official 
 successors. 
 
 The magistrates of Edinburgh had as yet no voice in* the 
 nomination of the masters, nor were they even consulted, 
 although the whole expense of the establishment devolved 
 upon them, as representing the community. About the 
 middle of the sixteenth century, a venerable mansion at 
 the foot of Blackfriars* Wynd was hired for the school. 
 This lodging, which is approached by a small inner court, 
 had at one time been the palace or town-residence of 
 Archbishop James Beaton, and of b.is nephew the Cardinal:'' 
 
 ' M'Crie's Life of Andrew Melville, vol. ii. p. 327, 2d edition. 
 
 2 Council Record, March 19, 1531. 
 
 3 Council Record. Mr Daniel Wilson, the enlightened secretary of 
 the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in his very interesting Me- 
 morials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time, has given (vol. ii. p. 97, and 
 223, Edin. 1848, 4to) some curious historical details respecting Car- 
 dinal Beaton's house, which is accurately represented in the next 
 page. It was the scene of the first festivities after the return of 
 Queen Mary from France in August 15(51, and where she and her 
 court were entertained at a public banquet in the month of February 
 following.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 VIGNETTE Cardinal Beaton's House, foot of Blackfriars' Wynd. 
 
 In Blackfriars' Wynd, and in the adjoining steep and 
 narrow lanes, which connect the High Street with the 
 Cowgate, and which are now tenanted by the humbler 
 classes, the most respectable of the citizens at that time, 
 and indeed at a period not very remote, were wont to reside. 
 There lived our nobles, there our judges dwelt. 
 
 In the year 1555, the scholars were removed to a house 
 situate at the east side of the Kirk of Field (near the 
 head of what is still called the High School Wynd), which 
 had meanwhile been built by the tOAvn for their better 
 accommodation. 1 
 
 1 Council Record, March 11, 1554, and June 14, 1555,
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 7 
 
 At the Reformation, our universities and schools were 
 placed on a liberal footing. The revolutions which pre- 
 ceded that glorious era had called into action only the 
 physical strength of men; but the Reformation awakened 
 their intellectual energies. Freed from that thraldom of 
 bigotry and spiritual restraint by which Popery had so 
 long grievously enslaved it, the human mind sought to 
 exercise those powers which had hitherto been compara- 
 tively dormant. Some time indeed elapsed before the High 
 School reaped much benefit from the memorable and truly 
 happy change which, under Divine Providence, that mighty 
 event achieved. The office of head-master was then held 
 by William Robertoun, 1 a man of slender literary attain- 
 ments, and also of exceptionable character. Though "ane 
 obstinat papeist," he had contrived to retain his situation, 
 to the great detriment of the community, to whom he at 
 length became exceedingly obnoxious, in consequence of 
 his repeated attempts to corrupt the boys with his own 
 religious tenets. The town-council now deemed it expe- 
 dient to exert their influence to procure his speedy dis- 
 missal. For the furtherance of so desirable an object, 
 they addressed a missive, on the 8th April 1562, to Lord 
 James Stewart, afterwards Earl of Moray and Regent, and 
 besought his influence with Lord Robert Stewart, another 
 natural brother of the Queen. The latter nobleman had 
 embraced the reformed doctrines in 1559, but retained 
 the temporalities of the abbacy. In his person, as commen- 
 dator of Holyrood, the patronage of the school was exclu- 
 sively vested ; and with him therefore Lord James was 
 entreated by the corporation to labour for a gift of the office 
 of Master " to sic ane leirnit, and qualifeit man as thai can 
 
 1 Robertsoun, instead of Robertoun, is occasionally given in the re- 
 cord of the city, and by some historians, as the name of the head- 
 master. The orthography in the text however corresponds with his 
 own signature, and with several public deeds.
 
 8 THE HISTORjf OF THE 
 
 find maist abill therefor, to the effect that may remove the 
 said M. William fra the office foirsaid. And for uphalding 
 and sustening of the said Maister and doctouris, as alssua 
 of the regentis of ane college to be bigit within this burgh, 
 and biging of hospitellis, that it be lauborit with the Quein's 
 Grace it mycht pleis hir Grace to dispone and grant to 
 the toun the place, yairds, and annuallis of the freirs and 
 altairageis of the kirk." 1 This request, on behalf of the 
 citizens, is interesting, not so much as regards Robertoun, 
 on whose account the application was found highly requisite, 
 but especially as containing the first mention on record, 
 of the determination, on the part of the authorities, to erect 
 the University of Edinburgh. 
 
 Although the town-council thus plainly recognised Lord 
 Robert in his titular capacity as commendator of Holyrood, 
 and consequently invested with the patronage of the High 
 School, it is a singular fact, that, besides making the above 
 application, they also summoned Robertoun forthwith to 
 produce his deed of presentation. On the third day there- 
 after, being the llth of April, he appeared before them. 
 He then exhibited, not his own appointment, but one grant- 
 ed by Abbot Cairncross in favour of Sir John Allan, who 
 seems to have enjoyed the office on the same footing as 
 himself. Not satisfied with a document which a third 
 person might, with equal plausibility, have presented, the 
 magistrates charged Robertoun, under pain of immediate 
 dismissal, to lay before them, within eight days, the deed 
 upon which he grounded a valid right to the mastership. 
 This call he tardily obeyed ; for it was not until the 10th 
 of June that he presented himself, accompanied by Ed- 
 mund Hay, advocate, and gave in a written defence. On 
 the 22d of the ensuing month, the proper document was 
 laid on the table. It thence appeared, that the Abbot of 
 
 1 Council Record, April 8, 1562.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 Holyrood, with the consent of his coadjutor and adminis- 
 trator, the Abbot of Cambuskenneth, had nominated Ro- 
 bertoun to the High School on the 10th of January 1546. 
 But, apprehending that this alone would be insufficient, 
 and to escape, if he possibly could, a threatened trial of 
 scholarship, Robertoun had taken the further precaution to 
 bespeak the kindness of some of the principal citizens, who 
 allowed him the use of their names in support of his 
 questioned character and qualifications. He mustered a 
 very respectable roll ; but, to his mortification, the man- 
 oeuvre did not succeed. Regardless of his aversion, the 
 magistrates insisted that he should undergo, in their pre- 
 sence, a strict examination, and for this purpose fixed an 
 early day. Such a measure, humiliating in the extreme, 
 could never have been thought of, had not Robertoun's 
 deficiency been great. The religious opinions which he 
 entertained, and most improperly sought to propagate 
 among his pupils, even more than his literary incapacity, 
 fully justified the town-council in the step which they 
 took for his removal. As might be expected, he showed 
 no desire to stake his office upon an appearance, the issue 
 of which was indeed problematical ; and, more especially, 
 when he understood who were to be his examiners. His 
 refusal will not be considered strange, as few persons, con- 
 scious of any deficiency, would have consented to stand a 
 trial without some hesitation, when, among the " cunning 
 and expert men" selected as judges, were John Spottis- 
 wood, superintendent of Lothian, Clement .Little, advocate, 
 and George Buchanan, the celebrated historian and poet. 
 This proposition moreover he conceived to be as ungracious 
 in the council to advance, as it would be degrading in him 
 were he tamely to submit to it. The magistrates, having 
 thus failed to bring Robertoun's acquirements to the test, 
 commenced another mode of attack. They broadly as- 
 serted, and produced witnesses to prove, that his presenta-
 
 1 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tion was incomplete, inasmuch as the undoubted patron 
 at the time was only fourteen years of age, and his signa- 
 ture consequently was of no value without that of the 
 minor's curator, who had neglected to attest the deed. 
 Being at length declared by the magistrates utterly incom- 
 petent to fill the charge, and being prohibited from exer- 
 cising his scholastic functions, Robertoun laid his case 
 before Queen Mary. Her Majesty most readily espoused 
 his otherwise ruined cause. He soon personally re-appeared 
 before the corporation with a royal mandate; and, bold 
 from the influence which he had thus secured, insisted 
 upon instant payment of all salary in arrears, and an 
 unmolested occupation of office. Mary ratified the abbot's 
 deed of presentation to Robertoun, and gave the civic rulers 
 distinctly to understand, that failure on their part would 
 certainly incur her marked displeasure. 1 To an authority 
 so high the magistrates were forced to submit. Previously 
 to the interference of the Queen, and certainly presuming 
 that Robertoun would have voluntarily retired, the cor- 
 poration had actually been looking for a proper person to 
 supply the place which they had declared vacant; and, 
 upon a favourable account of his entire suitableness, they 
 had with great unanimity selected James White, by birth 
 a Scotsman, and then a successful teacher in London. A 
 letter was even despatched, in which his acceptance of the 
 office was earnestly desired, and an assurance held out that 
 he should be no loser in the event of his coming to Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 Though, to the loss of the community, White's matured 
 experience was denied, brighter days awaited the school. 
 In obedience to her Majesty's commands, Robertoun was 
 continued ; but a provisional arrangement was soon made 
 
 1 Two letters from Queen Mary in favour of Robertoun are incor- 
 porated in the minute of the Town-Council, of date May 11, 1565, printed 
 in the APPENDIX, No. I.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 1 1 
 
 with a highly gifted individual. This was Thomas Bu- 
 chanan, eldest son of Alexander Buchanan of Ibbert, and 
 nephew of the famous George Buchanan. 1 The town- 
 council having made choice of him on the 28th July 1568, 
 appointed one of their number forthwith to proceed to St 
 Andrews, where Buchanan, yet a young man, taught as a 
 regent or professor in St Salvador's College. He promptly 
 accepted the call, and accompanied the bearer of it from 
 Fife. Some time intervened between his arrival in Edin- 
 burgh and a proper adjustment of matters. The delay was 
 occasioned by Robertoun's refractoriness, and his aversion 
 to come to terms with a body of men against whose juris- 
 diction he had triumphantly appealed to his sovereign ; 
 but he at length acceded to the wishes of the council, by 
 quietly yet reluctantly withdrawing on a retiring allowance. 
 The appointment of Buchanan was confirmed by a govern- 
 ment presentation. 2 The corporation also entered into 
 terms with the new master, and in a manner which showed 
 that they were desirous to give him every encouragement. 
 By his ability and zeal, Buchanan improved the efficiency 
 of the school, and increased the number of the scholars. 
 An unpleasant occurrence however happened about two 
 years after his induction, owing, as he alleged, to his patrons 
 not duly fulfilling some of the articles of agreement. After 
 the Court of Session, from which he sought redress, had 
 given a decision in his favour, he imagined that the magis- 
 trates did not pay him that deference which his talents, 
 education, and standing in society merited. 3 His situation 
 was thus far from comfortable. By Robertoun he knew 
 that he had all along been viewed in the light of a sup- 
 planter ; but he could ill brook the treatment which the 
 issue of his lawsuit unhappily occasioned him from his de- 
 
 1 Crawford's History of the University of Edinburgh, p. 44. 
 3 APPENDIX, No. II. 
 3 APPENDIX, No. III.
 
 1 2 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 feated patrons. Determined to dissolve a connexion which 
 increased mutual uneasiness, he finally quitted Edinburgh 
 in the summer of 1571 ; but he was almost immediately 
 called to a similar office in the town of Stirling, where 
 many sons of the nobility and gentry were placed under 
 his care. In April 1578 he was appointed minister of 
 Ceres, in the county of Fife. With that parochial cure 
 was conjoined the office of provost of Kirkhill or Kirk- 
 heugh, in the vicinity of St Andrews. This was a colle- 
 giate church, which had been endowed for a provost and 
 nine prebendaries. It was annexed to the crown in 1578, 
 and from that year, commencing consequently with Bu- 
 chanan's appointment, the provost was generally minister of 
 Ceres ; but the income which he derived from the provostry 
 was comparatively small, as the greater part of the stipend, 
 like that of similar institutions, was drawn by laymen. 1 
 In addition to this, he held the honourable office of Keeper 
 of the Privy Seal, which his uncle resigned in his favour. 2 
 His name appeared in this last capacity in 1582, when 
 James VI. granted a second charter to the University of 
 Edinburgh. During the last mentioned year, the General 
 Assembly of the Church of Scotland appointed him to act 
 as a professor of divinity in the University of St Andrews. 
 Buchanan's subsequent life was spent in the discharge of 
 his clerical duties, and also in taking an active part in the 
 discussion of the important ecclesiastical questions which 
 then occupied much of the public attention. 3 He died 
 provost of Kirkheugh and minister of Ceres, April 12th 
 1599. 4 
 
 Robertoun, as if lying in wait for an opportunity, eagerly 
 
 1 .Marline's Reliquiae Divi Andrese, p. 216. 
 
 2 Chalmers's Life of Thomas Ruddiman, p. 338. 
 
 * M'Crie's Life of Andrew Melville, vol. i. p. 228 ; and vol. ii. p. 19, 
 et seq. 
 4 MS. Test. Regist., April 1599.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 13 
 
 availed himself of the occasion of the departure of Bu- 
 chanan from Edinburgh to resume those duties in the High 
 School, from the exercise of which he had most reluctantly 
 been induced to retire. The magistrates, on the other 
 hand, chagrined at the departure of Buchanan, seem to 
 have opposed no obstacles to the resumption of the mas- 
 tership on the part of Robertoun. The school fell sadly in 
 public estimation, and the seminaries near the metropolis 
 flourished in consequence. But, though the -wealthier por- 
 tion of the community found no difficulty in procuring 
 good classical instruction elsewhere, their less fortunate 
 fellow-citizens were compelled either to relinquish the desire 
 of giving their children a liberal education, or to rest con- 
 tented with the confessedly inefficient manner in which 
 Robertoun taught. 
 
 Many a flourishing school has been ruined by the un- 
 fitness of the principal master. If deficient in scholarship, 
 talents for teaching, or propriety of conduct, his associates, 
 however qualified for their duties, will either retire in dis- 
 gust from his enfeebling superintendence, or, receiving a 
 competent salary, may allow themselves, unless actuated 
 by a high sense of duty, to be lulled into a state of indiffer- 
 ence. The head of a literary institution should not only 
 be above all suspicion with regard to attainments, but, 
 with an enlightened knowledge of languages and the sub- 
 sidiary branches, should, in a pre-eminent degree, unite 
 dignity and affability of manner. Had it not been for a 
 succession of excellent under-masters, the High School of 
 Edinburgh would, more than once, during its early history, 
 have suffered much more than it did. 
 
 In March 1566, the magistrates obtained from Queen 
 Mary a gift of the patronages and endowments, in Edin- 
 burgh, which belonged to the Dominican and Franciscan 
 monasteries, including that of the Grammar School, which 
 till then had been vested in the Abbot of Holyrood. Hav-
 
 14 
 
 TIIK HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ing obtained this royal gift, the corporation, in the month 
 of January 1577, resolved to erect a suitable schoolhouse 
 in the garden of Blackfriars' monastery, to be ready 
 before the ensuing term of Whitsuntide. The building, 
 however, which was raised by contract for two hundred 
 and fifty pounds, was not finished for the reception of the 
 till the year following. 1 
 
 
 V i <;. \ETTE View of the Hiyh School erected hi the year 1578. 
 
 At the period under review, this classical establishment 
 was indebted in many respects, particularly for the comple- 
 tion of its buildings, to James Lawson, the immediate 
 successor of John Knox as one of the ministers of Edin- 
 
 1 Council Record, January 29, and February 16, 1577 ; May 10 and 
 
 23, 1-37 -.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 15 
 
 burgh. Lawson successfully exerted his influence, which 
 Avas considerable, in encouraging the study of literature in 
 the Scottish capital. The High School itself did not become 
 what was originally intended, an elementary seminary for 
 logic and philosophy, as well as of classical learning ; but 
 it led to the foundation of the University ; and from the 
 terms of the original charter, they may be viewed as por- 
 tions of one great institution. 
 
 The town-council, tired of the expense which Robertoun's 
 incapacity had occasioned, determined that all repairs in 
 the school-house, caused by his carelessness, should be 
 executed at his own cost. When, in the autumn of 1579, 
 a royal visitation of this seminary was expected, the patrons 
 must have dreaded an approaching exhibition as likely to 
 give their youthful sovereign no very favourable idea of 
 the metropolitan school. 1 In the subsequent year, the 
 scholars were so turbulent, that nine of them were com- 
 mitted to prison, and fined for their misconduct. Unable 
 to contend either with the magistrates, or his unruly pupils, 
 and finding that old age had unfitted him for exertion, 
 Robertoun agreed to accept from the city a retiring an- 
 nuity of two hundred merks, or L.ll : 2 : 2 1. 2 
 
 In the month of May 1584, Hercules Rollock, 3 a man 
 of genius and superior classical attainments, was en- 
 trusted with the duties of head-master. He was born at 
 Dundee about the year 1546, and was nearly related to 
 
 1 Council Record, September 4, 1579. 
 
 2 Ibid. April 3, 1584. 
 
 3 Ibid. May 29, 1584. The most correct orthography probably is 
 Rollok, though the name given in the text is now generally adopted. 
 He wrote his name Rollok, occasionally Rolloc. A. fac-simile of his 
 signature in the former mode of spelling appears in his " Contract" 
 with the Town-Council, printed in the APPENDIX, No. IV. " Her. 
 Rolloc, Taodinensis" I observed in his handwriting on several volumes, 
 once his property, but which were presented to the University of Edin- 
 burgh in 1600, by different individuals, who had evidently purchased 
 them that year at the sale of his library.
 
 1 6 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Rollock, the first principal of the University of Edinburgh. 1 
 Having honourably completed a full course of academical 
 study at St Andrews, Hercules Rollock was appointed, in 
 1562, a regent in King's College, Aberdeen. 2 He did not, 
 however, remain there long, but repaired to England. On 
 his way thither he had the misfortune to fall into the hands 
 of pirates, by whom he was plundered of his property, 
 more especially of a choice collection of books. On land- 
 ing in Sussex he went to Buckhurst, where he met with a 
 hearty welcome from Sir Thomas Sackville, afterwards 
 Earl of Dorset, who was distinguished as a poet, a states- 
 man, and a generous patron of learned men. Sackville is 
 known as author of the finest poem in the English language 
 between Chaucer and Spenser. Grateful to this excellent 
 person for his courtesy and hospitality, Rollock addressed 
 to him an ingenious Latin poem, written while at Buck- 
 hurst, the seat for six centuries of the Sackvilles, ances- 
 tors of the now extinct ducal house of Dorset, who derived 
 frem it the first title by which they were ennobled. 3 
 With the view of prosecuting his literary studies, and of 
 enlarging his acquaintance with the world, he proceeded 
 to France, and attended the prelections of the eminent pro- 
 fessors at Poitiers. 4 When at that University, which was 
 resorted to by many British and other foreigners, Rollock 
 published several Latin poems of great merit, one in par- 
 ticular which he inscribed to the governor of the province 
 
 1 See the beautiful Latin lines which Hercules Rollock composed on 
 the occasion of the Principal's death, at p. 81 of a quarto volume, printed 
 in 1826 for the Bannatyne Club, and entitled, " De Vita et Morte Ro- 
 lierti Rollok, Academic, Edinburgena- Primarii Narrationes; Aucto- 
 ribus Georgio Robertson et Henrico Charteris." 
 
 -' Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen, vol. ii. p. 405, 4to. 
 
 s The Latin poem has been preserved (Delit. Poet. Scot. torn. ii. pp. 
 361-365), and is inscribed, " Ad generosissimum Equitem Torquatnm, 
 Thomam Sacvillum, Buchurstiu- Dominum, e sua domo in Australi 
 Anglia." 
 
 4 Delitise Poetarum Scotorum, torn. ii. p. 361, and pp. 350-51.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 17 
 
 of Poitou. 1 On his return to Scotland, he was recom- 
 mended by George Buchanan to the young king, by whom 
 he was nominated commissary of Angus and the Carse of 
 Gowry, which were disjoined from the Commissariat of 
 St Andrews in the year 1580, and erected into a separate 
 jurisdiction. But the new court was soon suppressed, 
 chiefly in consequence of the opposition of the commissary 
 and magistrates of St Andrews. 2 Immediately before 
 coming to Edinburgh, Rollock was employed at Dundee 
 as a notary public. His new patrons, who were exceed- 
 ingly disposed to second Bollock's endeavours in effecting 
 a reformation in their school, resolved that no other semi- 
 naries of education should be tolerated within the city; 
 and the burgesses were required either to send their child- 
 ren to the High School, or pay to Rollock a penalty for 
 each boy elsewhere instructed. A committee was likewise 
 named to draw up a course of study for the school, and 
 they were specially enjoined to distinguish the same from 
 what was taught at the University. 3 
 
 Though, unfortunately, there does not exist any record 
 of names, or even the numbers of scholars at this early 
 date, there is ample evidence for concluding, that the 
 master had at first no cause to complain of his class being 
 thinly attended. Among his pupils then was William 
 Drummond of Hawthornden, the historian and poet, who 
 
 1 Panegyris de Pace in Gallia constituent!, ad Virum Ampliss. D. 
 Petrura Return, Pictaviensis prouincise Praesidem. Authore Hercule 
 Rolloco. Pictavii, ex officina Bochetorum, 1576, 4to. The only copy of 
 this encomiastic poem which I have seen or know to exist, is in the 
 library of the University of Edinburgh, among the books bequeathed, in 
 1627, by the celebrated William Drummond of Hawthornden. In that 
 copy there are many alterations apparently in the author's handwriting, 
 which made me conclude, that he had been attempting to transform this 
 piece to suit another occasion. See also Filleau, Traite* de 1'TJniversite 
 de Poitiers. Poitiers, 1644, fol. 
 
 3 M'Crie's Life of Andrew Melville, vol. ii. p. 410. 
 
 3 Council Record, August 14, 1584. 
 
 B
 
 18 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " conspicuously exhibited at the High School early sign? 
 of that worth which afterwards appeared to the world." ' 
 Rollock's reputation brought him scholars from the remotest 
 districts of Scotland ; but the names of some of them have 
 been handed down not much to their honour. Those related 
 to families of rank and talent, were, as on a previous oc- 
 casion, foremost in mischief, and notorious at school for 
 disgraceful conduct. 
 
 In those days, frequent tumults took place which seldom 
 or never characterise modern times. The rude behaviour , 
 of the boys towards their teachers, particularly manifested 
 in what has been termed a barring-out, was frequently 
 practised, both in England and Scotland, in the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries. When the periodical recess 
 drew nigh, the scholars often became perfectly unman- 
 ageable ; their minds being bent more on the approaching 
 vacation, and on the best means of prolonging it, than on 
 the tasks prescribed. Their mode of procedure was suf- 
 ficiently determined. Having fixed upon a leader, they 
 pledged their honour to stand by him to the last, and, sup- 
 plying themselves with provisions and weapons of defence, 
 they took possession of the school-house, of which they 
 barricaded the doors and windows. For several successive 
 days have they been known to remain voluntary prisoners, 
 till they were either extruded, or attained their object by 
 a reluctant and ungracious grant of additional holidays. 
 To gain admittance in such circumstances was impracti- 
 cable ; so that usually the Master, after exerting to little 
 purpose all his patience, alternately in persuasion and 
 threats, was under the necessity of complying with their 
 demands, in order to induce them peaceably to abandon 
 their stronghold. Every thing seems to have proceeded 
 smoothly for more than three years under Rollock ; and he 
 
 1 Bishop Sage's Life of Drunimoud, prefixed to the folio edition of his 
 works. Edin. 1711.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. { 9 
 
 appears to have enjoyed the entire confidence and support 
 of the public ; but the High School, like some other semin- 
 aries at this period, became the scene of anarchy and con- 
 fusion. Rollock and his patrons received the most con- 
 temptuous treatment from the scholars. The lives of the 
 magistrates and the Master were exposed to imminent 
 jeopardy by the threatened use of the deadly weapons with 
 which, to resist lawful authority, the young delinquents 
 had daringly armed themselves. With the exception of 
 the disturbance in the year 1580, already noticed, this is 
 the first formidable barring-out which occurs in the history 
 of the High School ; and, though it did not end so tragically 
 as a similar outrage eight years afterwards, it exhibits a 
 deplorable picture of the state of society. Rollock being 
 determined not to suffer his authority to be trampled upon 
 with impunity, despatched a messenger to the council 
 chamber for aid. The provost, with the other function- 
 aries, repaired to the spot. It was soon discovered that 
 the malecontents would not be so easily subdued, and that 
 they were as much disposed to resist the civic authorities, 
 as they had already disdainfully rejected the advice and 
 commands of their excellent preceptor. By the direction 
 of William Little, the chief magistrate, an entrance was 
 obtained, but not till the principal door had been shatter- 
 ed to pieces. Overawed when the assailants entered the 
 schoolhouse, the scholars fortunately did not employ the 
 destructive weapons with which they were provided. 
 Fire-arms of every description, with swords and halberds, 
 were found in their possession. Whilst the magistrates 
 and the teachers lamented the lawless spirit of the boys, 
 they had much cause for gratitude on their own providen- 
 tial escape in this unprovoked uproar. It may well be 
 imagined, that those who were prominent on this occasion, 
 acquired among their class-fellows, and the school boys of 
 the following age, no small celebrity for the stand which
 
 20 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 they now made. After all, they failed in their object ; 
 and, besides subjecting their relations to a smart fine, they 
 had the mortification to learn, that the authorities had 
 unanimously decreed, that the offenders should be punish- 
 ed, and that the annual vacation, to commence in the mid- 
 dle of May, should not exceed one week. 
 
 In a memorial which Rollock presented to the town- 
 council on the 17th April 1588, for an increase of salary, 
 it appears that it was through the recommendation of James 
 Lawson, one of the city ministers, he had been induced to 
 accept of the situation of rector. He entered upon office, 
 he says, on such inadequate terms, as the perilous and then 
 uncertain state of public affairs permitted, with an assur- 
 ance, however, that on the demise of his predecessor, the 
 annuity granted to Robertoun should be added to his 
 salary. In justice to himself and family, his present ap- 
 peal became unavoidable. The dearth of all sorts of provi- 
 sions, and the irregular manner in which the school-fees 
 were paid, made his stated allowance scarcely sufficient to 
 ensure the necessaries, far less the comforts, of life. He 
 declares his aversion to engage, as he must otherwise do, 
 in any other employment that might withdraw his atten- 
 tion from his scholastic avocations, which demanded an 
 undivided energy of the whole man. He protests, more- 
 over, that far from being prompted by covetousness, his 
 only desire was to live soberly on the fruit of his profes- 
 sional labours, and not be forced, as heretofore, to encroach 
 on his small patrimony reserved for old age, and as a pro- 
 vision to his children ; and that, on receiving a favourable 
 reply, he pledged himself to be unremitting in his efforts to 
 maintain and perpetuate the celebrity of the High School, 
 " as well by his present pains, as by his monuments, which 
 he has in hand to serve others hereafter, to the advance- 
 ment of God's glory, and comfort of this commonweal." 1 
 > Council Record, April 17, 1588.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 21 
 
 Rollock's representation had the desired effect. His pa- 
 trons immediately doubled his salary, raising it to one hun- 
 dred pounds Scots. But neither his patrimony, nor what 
 he derived from the school, was sufficient to meet his nu- 
 merous engagements. He was naturally of a generous and 
 an easy disposition ; and, as usually happens, there were 
 not wanting those ready to take advantage of his unsus- 
 pecting kindness and promiscuous liberality. By suretyship, 
 he had more than once involved himself in pecuniary dif- 
 ficulties. So imprudent indeed had he become, that the 
 magistrates judged it proper officially to intimate to him, 
 that he should in future be fined forty pounds Scots each 
 time he was known to come under similar engagements. 1 
 
 The habits of Rollock were decidedly literary. He had 
 frequent intercourse with the principal men in the king- 
 dom, and he was in truth the instructor of many of them ; 
 and " his sweet manners" made him a general favourite. 2 
 Scarcely any important event in the civil and ecclesiastical 
 history of Scotland during his time did he allow to pass 
 without commemorating it in Latin verse, which he wrote 
 with great facility and elegance. 
 
 In the year 1590, when Anne of Denmark, consort of 
 James the Sixth, made her first entry into Edinburgh, the 
 rector of the High School had a prominent part assigned 
 to him in the pageant. The royal procession having halted 
 " at the strait of the Bow," where Rollock was stationed, 
 he there pronounced an appropriate oration, congratulating 
 the Queen on her marriage, and offering her Majesty a 
 
 1 Council Record, November 11, 1590. 
 
 2 " Hercules Rollocus amoeuissimo ingenio scholam Edinburgensem 
 rexit, et multis minis in erudienda Scotica nobilitate impensis, Musis 
 potius quam sibi natus videri poterat. Suaves ad hsec mores, et erudito 
 sale temperati, gratum omnibus efficiebant." Dempster! Historia Ec- 
 clesiastica Gentis Scotorum, torn. ii. p. 5G5. Editio Altera, Edin. 182'J, 
 4to.
 
 22 THE HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 hearty welcome to the metropolis of her new dominions. 1 
 He likewise wrote a long and admired Latin poem on the 
 royal marriage. 
 
 As a teacher, Rollock was well supported by his country- 
 men ; and, through the encouraging patronage of the 
 Queen, foreigners were entrusted to his care as pupils and 
 boarders. 2 
 
 Nothing save Greek and Latin had been taught in this 
 seminary previous to the year 1593 ; but it was then 
 thought expedient that the pupils should have an oppor- 
 tunity of acquiring penmanship under the same roof. The 
 council accordingly appointed William Murdoch, teacher 
 of that useful branch. A room was fitted up at the ex- 
 pense of the city, but no salary was allowed. The master 
 was authorized to charge ten shillings Scots (tenpence ster- 
 ling) quarterly from " ilk writter." 3 A committee was 
 at this time appointed to inquire into the state of the 
 High School, and to point out things necessary to be 
 reformed. 4 
 
 Some days before the autumnal recess, as already noticed, 
 the head-master required his utmost exertion to maintain 
 discipline. On these occasions, the most excessive rude- 
 ness was shown by the youths to their instructors. But 
 on the 15th of September 1595 an event happened, which 
 not only threw the whole city into a state of painful ex- 
 citement, but also, for a time, tarnished the reputation 
 
 1 Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. v. p. 97. 
 
 In the " Papers relative to the Marriage of King James the Sixth 
 of Scotland with the Princess Anna of Denmark," printed in 1828 for 
 the Bannatyne Club, the following entry appears at p. 22, in a bill of 
 \ [icnses for the year ending November 1, 1591 : 
 
 " Item, to Maister Hercules Rollok, Maister of the Hie Scule of Edin- 
 burgh, for burding and furnesing of Johnne Andro, Danisman, being at 
 the scule, and buirdit with the said Maister, j.c.xxxxiij. vis. viijd, 
 
 3 Council Record, February 8, 1593. 
 
 Ibid., July 11, 1594.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 23 
 
 of the school. Conformably to established custom, the 
 scholars repaired in a body to the council-chamber to crave 
 from the magistrates a week's holidays, or " privilege," as 
 it was termed. Owing, it would appear, to some pruden- 
 tial motive, their request was peremptorily refused ; and 
 this unlooked-for denial exasperated the boys to a high de- 
 gree, and principally led to the commission of the foul 
 crime which it is now our disagreeable duty to record. A 
 number of them, " gentilmenis bairnis," entered into a 
 compact to revenge this supposed encroachment. Accord- 
 ingly, having provided themselves with fire-arms and 
 swords, they went, in the dead of night, and took posses- 
 sion of the school-house. On the following morning, when 
 Rollock made his appearance, he soon understood that his 
 pupils were there, but that they had another object in view 
 than the prosecution of their studies. The doors were not 
 only shut against him, but every means of access being 
 completely blocked up, and strongly guarded from within, 
 all attempts to storm the garrison were found imprac- 
 ticable ; and endeavours, oft repeated, to effect a reconcilia- 
 tion, proved unavailing. At length it was deemed ex- 
 pedient to call in the aid of the municipal power. John 
 Macmoran, one of the magistrates, immediately came to 
 the High School at the head of a party to force an en- 
 trance. When he and the city officers appeared in the 
 yards, or play ground, the scholars became perfectly out- 
 rageous ; and renewed remonstrances were quite fruitless. 
 The boys unequivocally showed that they would not 
 be dispossessed with impunity ; and they dared any one 
 at his peril to approach. To the point likely to be 
 first attacked, they were observed to throng in a highly 
 excited state, while each seemed to vie with his fellow in 
 threatening instant death to the man who should forcibly 
 attempt to displace them. William Sinclair, son to the 
 Chancellor of Caithness, had taken a conspicuous share in
 
 24 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 this barring-out ; and he now appeared foremost, encour- 
 aging his confederates steadily to persevere in defence of 
 those rights, which he doubtless conceived immemorial 
 usage had fairly established. He took his stand at a win- 
 dow overlooking one of the entrances, whence he distinctly 
 saw every movement of those without. Macmoran, never 
 dreading that such hostile threats would be carried into 
 execution, boldly persisted in urging his officers to force 
 the door with a long beam, which, as a battering-ram, they 
 were plying with all their might. The bailie had nearly 
 accomplished his perilous purpose, when a shot in the 
 forehead, from Sinclair's pistol, laid him dead on the spot. 
 The anxious spectators of the scene were panic-struck, and 
 the mournful tidings cast a gloom over the town. 
 
 Early on the following day the town-council held an 
 extraordinary meeting, and gave expression to their deep 
 regret on account of this distressing occurrence, by which 
 they had been deprived of a much respected colleague, and 
 the city of an active magistrate. The provost, two of the 
 bailies, the convener of the Trades, and seven councillors, 
 were deputed to proceed to Fife, personally to communicate 
 the sad intelligence to the king, who was then at Falkland, 
 his favourite hunting palace. 1 
 
 After two months' imprisonment, seven of the scholars, 
 
 1 Council Record, Sept. 16, 1595 ; Calderwood's History, vol. v. p. 382; 
 Monteith's Theatre of Mortality, Part Second, p. 7, Edin. 1713. A 
 citizen of Edinburgh, a contemporary of Bollock, has given the follow- 
 ing graphic account of this memorable barring-out : 
 
 " 1595, September 15. Johne Macmorrane slene be the schot of ane 
 pistoll out of the Scholl ; this Johne Macmorrane, being baillie for the 
 tyme. The bairnis of the said Gramer-scool came to the Tounis Coun- 
 sell, conforme to thair yeirlie custome, to seek the priviledge ; quha wes 
 rofnisit: Upone the quhilk, ther wes ane number of scolleris, being gen- 
 tilmenis bairnis, made aue mutinie, and came in the nicht and tuik the 
 scooll, and provydit thauaeselfis with meit, drink, and hagbutis, pistolit and 
 sword : They ramforcit the doors of the said scooll, swa that thai refusit 
 to lat in thair Maistcr nor na wthir man, without thai wer grantit thair
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 25 
 
 who were apprehended along with Sinclair, submitted their 
 case to the Privy Council. In their memorial they assert 
 their innocence in the most positive terms; complain of 
 being closely shut up with abandoned characters in a damp 
 prison, at the imminent peril of their lives ; that, as most 
 of the petitioners were sons either of barons or landed pro- 
 prietors, they did not consider themselves amenable to the 
 magistrates of Edinburgh, who, besides being parties, could 
 not sit as unbiassed judges ; and humbly entreated his 
 Majesty to name an assize, of whom the majority should 
 be peers of the realm. Their request was complied with. 1 
 What actually took place at the trial, however, is not now 
 known, as the record of the Justiciary Court of that period 
 is unfortunately lost ; but Sinclair and the others were soon 
 liberated. 
 
 Here perhaps we may be pardoned for cursorily noticing 
 a tradition, which bears indeed the marks of probability, 
 that a boy of the name of Campbell, implicated in this 
 
 priviledge, conforme to thair wountit vse. The Prouost and Baillies and 
 Counsell heiring tell of the same, thai ordanit Johne Macmorrane baillie 
 to goe to the Gramer-scooll, and tak sum ordour thairwith. The said 
 Johne, with certane officeris, went to the Hie Scooll, and requystit the 
 scollaris to oppin the dores : thai refusit. The said Baillie and officeris 
 tuik ane geast and ran at the bak dore with the geast. Ane scollar bad 
 him desist frome dinging vp the dore, wtherwayis, he wowit to God, he 
 sould schute ane pair of bullettis throw his heid. The said Baillie, 
 thinking he durst not schuit, he and his assistaris ran still with the geast 
 at the said dore. Thair came ane scoller callit William Sinklar, sone to 
 Williame Sinklar chansler of Catnes, and with ane pistollet schot out at 
 ane window, and schott the said Baillie throw the heid, sua that he diet 
 presentlie. The haill touuis men rane to the scooll, and tuik the said 
 bairnis, and pat thame in the Tolbuithe : Bot the haill bairnis wer lattin 
 frie, without ane hurte done to thame for the same, within ane schort 
 tyme thairefter/' Diary of Robert Birrel, pp. 34-5. 
 
 1 APPENDIX, No. IV., for a correct copy of the proceedings of the 
 Privy Council of Scotland, of date November 27, 1595. A portion of 
 that document has been printed in Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. i. p. 
 349, 4to.
 
 26 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 barring-out, apprehensive of the result, fled alone to the 
 Isle of Skye, where he settled, and left behind him a gene- 
 ration of Campbells, isolated as it were amidst a nation of 
 Macleods. One of these, a great-grandson of the rioter, 
 hospitably received the unfortunate Charles in his wander- 
 ings in the year 1746, and was very kind to him. 1 Some 
 other boys, the sons of highland chieftains, were engaged 
 in the affray, which proves that the highland proprietors 
 of that period could not have been so illiterate as it is 
 generally supposed they were. By spending their early 
 days in Edinburgh, they must have acquired at once the 
 best education and the best manners which those times 
 could furnish. 
 
 The fatal event which had taken place greatly affected 
 Rollock ; and a sensitive mind like his could not dwell 
 upon his brief and chequered incumbency without feel- 
 ings of the liveliest concern. From what had occurred, 
 indeed, it was too evident that the public did not give him 
 credit for a firm, zealous, and conscientious discharge of 
 his official duties. He had now little enjoyment in his 
 class, which rapidly decreased in numbers ; partly in con- 
 sequence of the expulsion, by the command of the King, 
 of such of the rioters as had returned to the school, and 
 partly through the detention of others by their parents, 
 who naturally dreaded the recurrence of a similar out- 
 rage. Rollock also lost the patronage of the town-council. 
 Not only did they repeal their recent act increasing the 
 school fees, but plainly accused him of mismanagement, and 
 inability to maintain proper discipline. The grounds of 
 Rollock's impeachment, and his own defence, have been 
 preserved in the records of the city. What seems to have 
 most displeased the magistrates was the discovery, that, 
 
 1 Sir Walter Scott, a pupil of the High School, and intimately ac- 
 quainted with the stirring parts of its history, related to my obliging 
 informant the little episode which I have given in the text.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 27 
 
 questioning their deed of presentation, he had, several 
 months previously to this, clandestinely purchased from 
 the Abbot of Holyrood, ' ane gift of the Grammar Schole.' 
 Indignant at his conduct in various respects, the town- 
 council abruptly closed the business by declaring his place 
 vacant, at the same time naming a committee of their 
 body to shut the school, and to " intromit with the keys, if 
 any there might chance be." 1 
 
 According to Bollock's statement, the High School, 
 over which he presided eleven years, soon fell " into the 
 barbarism from which he recovered it." He imputes his 
 dismissal to the ignorance of the citizens, who were in- 
 capable of appreciating the excellence of his instructions, 
 so superior to those of ordinary pedagogues. He men- 
 tions, that after his connexion with the school had ceased, 
 he was appointed to a situation in the Court of Session, 
 and was patronised by his Majesty. 2 He unsuccessfully 
 pursued the magistrates before the Court of Session for 
 damages. 3 Thwarted in this litigation, and having de- 
 rived little emolument from his new office, which he did 
 not long retain, he was compelled to make such inroads 
 upon his small patrimony, that at his death, which hap- 
 pened in January 1599, he left his family in reduced cir- 
 
 1 Council Record, February 20, 1595. 
 
 2 Delit. Poet. Scot., torn. ii. p. 389. M'Crie's Life of Andrew Mel- 
 ville, vol. ii. p. 411. A long letter, addressed by Hercules Rollock, June 
 1, 1597, to Secretary Lindsay, " anent Patrick Murray's Commission 
 to the North," and found in the Balcarras Papers, has been printed in 
 the Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, from 1577 to 1603, by David 
 Moysie, pp. xxi-xxiv. Edin. 1830. 4to. From an account of a pres- 
 byterial visitation of the Church at Hoi j rood House, on the 26th Sep- 
 tember 1598, it would seem that Rollock was in the habit of seeking, 
 which was then uncommon, religious instruction beyond the bounds of 
 his own parish. " Mr Hercules Rollok, ane of the congregatioun, not 
 resorting to thair paroche kirk, to be proceided against." (Wodrow 
 Society Miscellany, vol. i. p. 465.) 
 
 3 Council Record, January 5, 1598.
 
 28 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cumstances. The town-council voted the sum of five hun- 
 dred merks towards their relief; his widow to draw the 
 interest during her life, and the capital thereafter to be 
 divided among Rollock's children. 1 
 
 The Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum? containing Latin poetry 
 that would do honour to any nation, are enriched with 
 not less than thirty-seven distinct articles, or above two 
 thousand four hundred lines, from the pen of Hercules 
 Rollock. So large a proportion of a work designed to 
 perpetuate the classical taste of Scotsmen, is certainly a 
 strong proof of the estimation in which the respective 
 pieces were held by the accomplished editor. Borrichius, 
 a learned foreigner, has noticed, in favourable terms, the 
 metrical compositions of Rollock. 3 But it is of greater 
 importance to know, that he enjoyed the personal friend- 
 ship of George Buchanan, who spoke in congratulatory 
 strains of his youthful attempts in poesy. " If I were not 
 aware," says an author whose opinion stands deservedly 
 high, "of appearing to detract from the merit of one 
 whose early productions secured the. approbation of Bu- 
 chanan, I would say, that Rollock was better acquainted 
 with the language than the spirit of the Roman poets. 
 His description of the miseries of Scotland during the civil 
 war is his most poetical performance." 4 There is no 
 question, that to Rollock's talents and acquirements the 
 
 1 Council Record, February 20, 1600. 
 
 3 Edited by Arthur Johnston, M.D., and printed at Amsterdam in 
 1637, at the expense of Sir John Scot of Scotsarvet. 
 
 ' " Hercules Rolloeus, Scotus, lectum genialem sternit Jacobo Sexto 
 Scotorum regi et Annse Frederici II. Danorum regis filise epithalamio 
 illustri et tanto gratiori quanto de cordata avorum nostrorum inno- 
 i/entia, integriori fide alienigena commentatur. Cecinit et alia de for- 
 tunee inconstantia, de Musarum Sacello, de afflicto statu Scotiee, de 
 JSlizabetha Regina, de Scotorum procerum reditu, de Theane quodam, 
 non minus suaviter quam erudite." (Dissertationes Academics de 
 Poetis, pp. 156-7. Franc. 1683, 4to.) 
 
 * M'Crie's Life of Andrew Melville, vol. ii. p. 441.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 29 
 
 High School of Edinburgh, as well as the general literature 
 of his native country, are indebted in no common degree. 
 
 Upon the twenty-third of April 1596, Alexander Hume 
 was unanimously chosen as the successor of Hercules Rol- 
 lock. 1 Of the time and place of his birth we are not in- 
 formed ; but he has so far gratified posterity by recording 
 his precise, though distant relationship to the noble family 
 of Home in the county of Berwick. 2 He was educated at 
 the school of Dunbar by Andrew Simson, whom he cha- 
 racterises as a man of piety, and possessed of a remarkable 
 aptitude for teaching. In due time he was enrolled as a 
 student in St Mary's College, St Andrews, and there took 
 the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1574. After spending 
 sixteen years in England as a tutor, and two of those 
 years in superintending the education of a young nobleman 
 at the University of Oxford, he returned to Edinburgh. 3 
 He had gained a high reputation as a scholar ; and, like 
 his own worthy preceptor, particularly excelled in com- 
 municating knowledge to others. 
 
 1 No particulars are given of Hume's election in the record of the 
 town-council ; but the simple fact merely is stated on the margin of 
 the leaf (vol. x. folio 72) ; the body of the page, evidently intended to 
 be occupied with the terms of the engagement, unfortunately remains a 
 blank. 
 
 1 This appears from the subjoined title of an unpublished MS. in 
 12mo, deposited in the Advocates' Library, (W. 7. 18) : " Rerum Scoti- 
 caruin Compendium, in iisum scholarum. Per Alexandrum Humium, 
 ex antiqua et nobili gente Humiorum in Scotia, a priml stirpe quinta 
 sobole oriundum." This work is but an epitome of Buchanan's His- 
 tory " in a good Latin style." (Nicolson's Scottish Historical Library, 
 p. 43. Lond. 1736, fol.) The MS. is dated October 1660, and is 
 consequently a transcript. Christopher Irving, in his w Histor. Scot. 
 Nomenclature," acknowledges his obligations to this manuscript, which 
 he calls " Clavis in Buchananum." 
 
 3 I ! iiniii Grammatica Nova, pref. Edin. 1612, 12mo. Dr M'Crie, in 
 his Life of Melville, (vol. ii. p. 506), has asked, " Could he be the author 
 of Humii Theses, Marpurgi, 1591 ?" That Alexander Hume was never
 
 30 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 It is matter of regret, that satisfactory documents have 
 not been preserved, explanatory of the precise mode which 
 was daily followed in the High School of Edinburgh in 
 the sixteenth century. This defect however may in part 
 be supplied by a reference to the way in which other 
 seminaries in Scotland were then conducted. In the year 
 1553, Theophilus Stuart, 1 master of the Grammar School 
 of Aberdeen, published an exceedingly interesting and 
 curious description of the manner in which the duties both 
 of master and pupil were required to be discharged. The 
 document referred to, entitled, Statuta et Leges Ludi Liter- 
 arii Grammaticorum Aberdonensium, is inserted in Stuart's 
 edition of " Rudimenta Artis Grammaticse," 2 a treatise 
 written by John Vaus, professor of Humanity in King's 
 College, Aberdeen, from 1505 to 1537, and author of the 
 first Latin Grammar published by a Scotsman. That ac- 
 count, which has not hitherto appeared in an English 
 dress, so admirably unfolds the system of tuition then 
 
 in any way connected with Marburg, clearly appears from the work of 
 Tilemann, Vitae Prof. Marpurgensis (pp. 147-160. Marb. 1727, 4to), 
 where it is stated, that ^Egidius Hunnius, one of the professors of the 
 university, was the writer of the Theses in question. The supposition 
 may be easily accounted for from the Latinized surname of the head- 
 master nearly resembling that of the learned German. 
 
 1 " Maister Theophelus Stuart, maister of the gremer skuill of aid 
 Aberdeen, departitt the xx day of Marche, the yeir of God 1576 yeiris." 
 (Analecta Scotica, First Series, p. 275, Edin. 1834, 8vo.) 
 
 1 This edition, printed at Paris 1553, 4to., was reprinted at Edin- 
 burgh under the following title : " Rvdimenta Artis Grammatics per 
 lo. Vavs, Scotvm, Selecta, et in Dvo Divisa. Edinbvrgi, Excvdebat 
 Robertvs Lekprevik, Anno Do. 1566. 4to." Vaus's grammatical trea- 
 tise was originally published in 1622 at Paris, whither the author, at 
 great personal inconvenience, went to superintend the press. The 
 impression mentioned in the text as having appeared in 1553, was exe- 
 cuted at the expense of Theophilus Stuart ; Alexander Skene, one of 
 his pupils, then at Paris, having corrected the press. Some particulars 
 of the Grammar School of Aberdeen are given by Kennedy in his Annals 
 of Aberdeen, vol. i. pp. 91, 137, and 471, and vol. ii. pp. 121-134. Lond. 
 1818, 4to.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 31 
 
 adopted in this country, that its insertion here cannot be 
 regarded as out of place. 
 
 STATUTES AND LAWS OF THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL OF ABERDEEN. 
 
 First, let the boy on entering the school, fall on his knees, 
 and address Christ, the greatest and best, the Creator of the 
 human race, in the following short prayer : 
 
 Heavenly Father, I thank thee for thy goodness to me 
 during the past night ; and I pray that thou wilt also be 
 gracious to me during this day, for thine own glory, and 
 the safety of my soul. And do thou, who art the true 
 light that never sets, eternal sun, giving life, support, and 
 gladness to all things, vouchsafe to enlighten my mind, 
 that I may never fall into any sin, but under thy guidance 
 may attain to life eternal. Amen. O Jesus, be thou a 
 Saviour to me, and strengthen me by thy Divine Spirit. 
 
 At seven in the morning, let a part commence, and when 
 their task is finished let the head-master enter, and chas- 
 tise offenders either by word or by stripes. The punish- 
 ment over, let there be a public prelection on all the 
 lessons, by the master himself, at eight o'clock. At the 
 close of the prelection let the scholars hasten to breakfast. 
 
 At ten o'clock, let there be a private prelection by the 
 ushers in all their classes ; but at eleven, or half-past eleven, 
 let permission be granted to the poor scholars to go into 
 town, and a little afterwards to the town's boys, if there 
 be any. 
 
 Let there be a second prelection by the master upon 
 Terence, Virgil, or Cicero at half past eleven, to those who 
 ought to attend. Finally, at noon, let the boys be dis- 
 missed. 
 
 Afternoon Statutes. Before two o'clock, let all be in the 
 school to hear the prelections.
 
 32 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Let one of the ushers, in rotation, be present to mark 
 any mistakes or slips made in the Latin language, and to 
 note those who are negligent. Let them also be on their 
 guard lest they themselves commit those faults which it is 
 their duty to censure in others. 
 
 At four o'clock, at the sound of the bell, let the boys 
 revise to their masters the tasks of the day. 
 
 Let them go out by twos, at the call of nature, with a 
 mark or baton. 1 Till the return of those to whom leave 
 has been granted, no others, unless compelled by urgent 
 necessity, shall be allowed to go out. The master of the 
 school, besides teaching the highest class, shall hear one or 
 other class, at his pleasure. 
 
 Let disputations be given in the evening from five to six, 
 immediately after which, let the boys proceed to chaunt 
 prayers to God, the best and the greatest. 
 
 Let elementary scholars and neophytes be enjoined to 
 observe Pythagorean silence for a whole year. 2 
 
 Let them commit to memory the table of confession. 
 
 Let them acquire a moderate knowledge of arithmetic. 
 
 Let all speak in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Gaelic, 
 never in the vernacular tongue, at least with those ac- 
 quainted with Latin. 
 
 Let each carry his own rod. 
 
 Let the household have no intercourse with strangers. 
 
 Let no Grammarian have any intercourse with a Dia- 
 lectician. 
 
 1 What was the custom at Aberdeen in the middle of the sixteenth 
 century, is still the practice of some of the schools in England. When 
 a boy obtains short leave during school-hours, he takes in his hand a 
 small baton, commonly called the mark. 
 
 2 The late Dr M'Crie, the learned biographer of Knox and Melville, 
 mentioned to the present writer, in reference to this very passage, that 
 he understood the scholars were not to take a part in the disputations, 
 or perhaps were not to join in the conversation at table, for one year 
 after they entered school.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 83 
 
 Laws. No one shall be permitted to barter or buy an ar- 
 ticle belonging to his class-fellow, orto give away what is not 
 strictly his own, without apprising the Master or his usher. 
 
 No one shall be allowed to play at any game, staking a 
 book, money, clothes, or a portion of his dinner ; but let 
 the senior scholars contend only for such trifling stakes as 
 leather thongs or pins. 
 
 We forbid any playing at dice : let the needy delight 
 in gain from gambling. 
 
 None shall engage in play except in the usher's presence. 
 
 No one shall injure another by word or deed ; if the in- 
 jured party shall bear the offence meekly, on his com- 
 plaint, let the offender be punished. If they employ strife 
 and recrimination, let both suffer punishment. If instead 
 of words, any gives blows, let him only who inflicts the 
 blows be chastised. If a senior shall provoke his juniors 
 to transgress, let him receive double punishment, because, 
 not only does he himself offend, but he instigates to mis- 
 chief those who otherwise would have never dreamt of it. 
 
 The following subject themselves to chastisement : 
 The disobedient ; those who come to school late in the 
 morning; those who have not prepared their lesson; 
 those who unnecessarily shift from form to form ; those 
 running about the school; those chattering during the 
 lessons ; those returning late from breakfast or dinner ; 
 those staying out too long when on leave ; those speaking 
 in the vernacular tongue ; those long absent from school ; 
 and the authors of mischief. 
 
 To these minute regulations are then appended quota- 
 tions on the duties of scholars from Quinctilian (De Insti- 
 tut. Orat. Lib. ii. ix. 2) ; Cicero (de Officiis, Lib. i. 34, 
 122) ; and Terence (Andria i. 1, 35). 
 
 In 1597 and the year following, the course of study in 
 the High School underwent a thorough revision. The 
 leading men on the bench, at the bar, and in the church, 
 
 c
 
 34 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cheerfully aided the town-council in this weighty affair. 
 Their joint and judicious opinion will be found at full 
 length in the appendix. 1 They recommended that, in all 
 time coming, there should be four regents or teachers, 
 ' learned and godly men,' to teach the grammar school. 
 
 In the first or junior class, the Latin elementary text- 
 book of Andrew Simson, which was better known from 
 the place of his zealous ministerial and scholastic labours, 
 as the Dunbar Rudiments, was employed, with the Collo- 
 quies of Cordery ; and on Sunday, the ' Catechesis Palati- 
 natus.' The second class were taught the rules of the 
 first Part of Pelisso, wrote exercises or versions thrice a- 
 week, and read the Tristia of Ovid, and Cicero's Familiar 
 Epistles. On Sunday they committed to memory the 
 Catechism, ' lately set out in Latin.' In the third class, they 
 were instructed in the second Part of Pelisso, the syntaxis 
 of Erasmus, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Terence. On Sun- 
 day, Buchanan's Psalms. In the fourth or highest class, 
 the third Part of Pelisso, with Buchanan's Prosodia, 
 Linacre on the construction of the Latin language, Virgil, 
 Sallust, Caesar's Commentaries, Florus, Ovid's Epistles. 
 On Sunday, Buchanan's ' heroic ' Psalms. 
 
 The utmost care was bestowed in all the classes on gram- 
 mar, and the niceties of the Latin language. It will be ob- 
 served that no Greek was then taught, nor was a knowledge 
 of that important branch of education effectively imparted 
 in the High School for more than two centuries after this. 
 The fourth regent was principal. His duties are clearly 
 defined in a document, prepared by the city clergy, and 
 issued on the 18th October 1598, as supplemental to that 
 published in the preceding July. The original draft 2 is 
 headed, " Orders agreid on by the Councill, to be ob- 
 
 1 APPENDIX, No. I. 
 
 2 Preserved in the Council Chamber. The old papers belonging to 
 the City were lately arranged and catalogued under distinct heads.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 35 
 
 served in the Hie Scule, so long as the Councills to 
 come shall find them to stand with the good of the com- 
 monwealthe and furtherance of letters." 
 
 The new regulations show the great practical wisdom of 
 those who compiled them. It was enacted, that boys intended 
 for any ' sage ' or class in the school must be first presented 
 to the Principal Master, in order that he may enrol their 
 names in his book, and, by trial of their ability, fix the class 
 for which he finds them fit. He was enjoined to prepare a 
 Catalogue of all the scholars, and to acquaint them that they 
 must submit to discipline. He was to convene once a- week 
 the doctors or regents and all the classes, and there try and 
 punish general faults ' according to reason.' He was officially 
 to visit each class once a-week, to ascertain if every thing 
 was performed as set down in the table, and that the pupils 
 were obedient. If he found at any time that a misunder- 
 standing existed among the regents, he was to exert himself 
 to bring about a reconciliation. Should his efforts happen 
 to prove unsuccessful, he was to report the case to the ma- 
 gistrates. If any regent neglected his duty the Principal 
 was to admonish him twice or thrice, and if that had not 
 the desired effect, the name of the incorrigible teacher was 
 to be sent to the Council. If a regent overlooked a 
 'notable' fault in his class, it was the principal's duty 
 to punish the same. The teachers were to assemble 
 weekly to confer on the best method of correcting dis- 
 orders which might have arisen, and of preventing those 
 likely to occur. The Master had power to give certain 
 holidays. No regent was permitted to put in advance or 
 keep back any pupil, without the consent of his superior ; 
 nor could he, without the concurrence of the principal and 
 the other regents, divide his class. Those boys who had 
 entered a particular class, unless found by the principal 
 unable ' to bald with their marrowes ' or equals, were not 
 to be put back, save at the quarterly examinations.
 
 36 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The ascension of the three subordinate classes was di- 
 rected to take place yearly in February ; and of the highest 
 class in September, when the young men were transferred 
 from it to the University. A few days before the ascen- 
 sion there was a strict examination. Each of the lowest 
 classes was examined by the other three masters ; the 
 highest class by the second professor of the College, namely, 
 by that professor who had received the class the year im- 
 mediately preceding. Care was taken that there should be 
 present the magistrates, ministers, and ' sic of the advocattis 
 as may be haid.' The boys were examined on the lessons 
 which they had learned. The progress of the highest 
 three classes was tested by questions and themes, the 
 lowest by questions only. The quarterly examinations 
 took place at Candlemas (February 2), Beltan (May 15), 
 Lammas (August 1), and Martinmas (November 11). 
 The preceding rules were to stand at the discretion of the 
 magistrates ; and a ' table ' or copy of them was to be 
 hung up in the class-room of the principal-master. 
 
 In regard to school-fees, the following regulations were now 
 passed : George Hastie, the first regent, was to have quar- 
 terly from each scholar thirteen shillings and fourpence ; 
 Patrick Peacock, the second regent, was to have the same 
 sum ; John Balfour, the third regent, had fifteen shillings ; 
 and Alexander Hume, the fourth or principal, twenty 
 shillings. Besides this, the Principal was to be acknow- 
 ledged by every boy at the school, " of ane quarterlie 
 dewtie of xld." The teachers received salaries from the 
 town: the first and second regents had twenty pounds, the 
 third had forty marks, and the head master had two hun- 
 dred marks yearly. It must be kept in mind, however, that 
 it is not sterling but Scots money which is here mentioned. 1 
 
 1 Twenty shillings, or one pound Scots, was equal to 20d. sterling, 
 aud a mark to 13Jd. sterling. In other words, one pound sterling was 
 equivalent to 18 marks, or 12 pounds Scots.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 37 
 
 It was then no unusual thing, in the chief schools both 
 of England and Scotland,'for the teachers and their scholars, 
 characteristically attired, to entertain their friends with 
 dramatic performances. To suit such occasions Hume 
 revised and published the humerous tragic-comedy, in 
 Latin, entitled Bellum Grrammaticale, 1 in which the several 
 parts of speech are personified, and warmly contest the 
 pre-eminence due to each. This play, founded on Guarna's 
 historical work on the same subject, which was printed at 
 Antwerp in the beginning of the sixteenth century, was 
 performed before Queen Elizabeth. It was also, like the 
 Comedies of Terence, frequently acted in our schools. In 
 the Thespian art Hume appears sedulously to have trained 
 his pupils, and periodically to have exhibited specimens of 
 his own and their skill, before the town-council and the 
 citizens of Edinburgh. Whatever may be the opinion 
 entertained as to the propriety of such scenic amusements 
 in general, a particular example of these juvenile exhibi- 
 tions now to be noticed, will be regarded as of a much 
 more questionable character. 2 The patrons and head- 
 master of the Edinburgh school seem to have considered it 
 their bounden duty to adopt every method to impress on 
 the minds of the young their abhorrence of the tenets of 
 the Roman Catholics. Great allowance doubtless must be 
 made for men who had so lately emancipated themselves 
 from the thraldom of Popery. But publicly to caricature 
 the ecclesiastics of another communion was surely un- 
 worthy of Protestant magistrates and teachers. In the 
 summer of 1598, the city treasurer was directed to pur- 
 chase gray cloth sufficient for five dresses resembling those 
 worn by friars, and likewise coarse red cloth to represent 
 
 i Humii Gram. Nova, pref. ; Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, p. 21. 
 
 3 Dr Johnson, in his Life of Milton says, that the poet's objections 
 to academical education as conducted in his time was, that men desijjn- 
 ed for the church were permitted to act plays. (Johnson's Works, vol. 
 ix. p. 89. Lond. 1810, 8vo.)
 
 38 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the official costume of his Holiness and the college of car- 
 dinals. The corporation agreed to this outlay on the dis- 
 tinct understanding, that at the close of this theatrical 
 display the dresses so used should be given to the poor. 1 
 
 Several alterations were made on the regulations which 
 had been issued twelve months before, and of which we 
 have already given the substance. Instead of the Head- 
 Master examining the new entrants and determining the 
 class they were to attend, it was enacted, that in those cases 
 where he received pupils to his own class who had not pre- 
 viously attended the school, that such pupils should be "tryet 
 and fund meit for his classe be the haill four regents." That 
 part of the recent enactment fixing an extra allowance on 
 the principal was cancelled ; the first regent was "to tak and 
 haif of his scholleris ane merk in the quarter ilk persoun, 
 the secund sextein schillings, and the thrid twenty shillings, 
 and thir three to haif na stipends of the town, be reasoun 
 of thair honest allowance ; and the fourt or principall maister 
 to haif twenty schillings in the quarter of ilk bayrne in his 
 classe, and to haif his ordiner stipend of twa hunder merks 
 in the yeir of the toun according to the tabill ; and farder, 
 for this yeir allanerlie, in respect of the fewnes of his 
 bayrnis )x thay grant unto him ane hunder merks." 2 
 
 A little before these changes were directed to be made, 
 Balfour, one of the regents, compeared before the town- 
 council, and having intimated that he was not inclined to 
 
 1 As it may interest and amuse some readers to see, in the original 
 orthography, the short minute of the civic authorities sanctioning the 
 procedure detailed in the text, it is here inserted : 
 
 1598 July 19." The sam day ordanis Jhoun Howesoun, thesaurer, 
 to caus bye als raekill gray as will be fyve frieris weids, and sum gref 
 reid clayth to be the weid of ane paip and his cardinells, to serve the 
 play to be playet be the principall and maisteris and his scholleris of 
 the Hie schole, provyding that the clayth be at the end of the play de- 
 Ivtu-rit to the thesaurer to be gevin to the puir at the sichtof the coun- 
 sell." (Council Record, x. f. 192. b.) 
 
 2 Council Record, May 4, 1599.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 39 
 
 keep the " order set down by them," he tendered his resig- 
 nation, which was immediately accepted. The vacancy 
 thus occasioned was soon supplied by the appointment of 
 Robert Steven, who, like several members of his family 
 then resident in and around Edinburgh, had successfully 
 devoted his days to the arduous profession of a teacher. 
 
 VIGNETTE Carved stone which was over the principal entrance to 
 the school from 1578 to 1777. This relic is preserved in the present 
 High School.
 
 40 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 16011700. 
 
 Rash and fruitless attempt to reduce the number of teachers in the 
 High School. "Writings of Alexander Hume. He leaves Edinburgh 
 to superintend the School at Prestonpans. Notice of that School. 
 Hume's Latin Grammar He becomes schoolmaster of Dunbar. His 
 interview with King James at Dunglass. John Ray, professor of Hu- 
 manity in the University of Edinburgh, succeeds Hume in the High 
 School. David Will, William Spang, and Archibald Newton, subordi- 
 nate teachers. Death of Ray. The mastership is conferred on 
 Thomas Crawford, Professor of Humanity Entry of King Charles I. 
 into Edinburgh. Crawford's Account of the School. He returns to 
 the University to occupy the Mathematical chair. William Spence 
 from Prestonpans is appointed in his room. Course of study in the High 
 School. Hew Wallace chosen Head Master, in the place of Spence. 
 Grammar School of Haddington. Death of Wallace. John Muir 
 elected. Grammar School of Pei-th. Salaries of the High School 
 teachers. They take the oath of fidelity. The boys are taught in Lady 
 Tester's Church during the repair of the school-house, damaged by 
 Cromwell's troops. Library established in the High School. Dona- 
 tions to the Library. Candlemas gifts to the teachers. John Hume, 
 minister of Lesmahago, chosen to fill the Mastership. A gallery in 
 Lady Tester's Church, and subsequently one hi Trinity College Church, 
 set apart for the use of the High School boys and their teachers. 
 David Ferguson, a nominee of General Monk, succeeds John Hume. 
 Death of Ferguson, and election of Andrew Rutherford. Grammar 
 School of Jedburgh. Alexander Heriot becomes Head-Master. As- 
 cension of the classes. Heriot and one of his doctors removed from 
 office, for nonconformity to Episcopacy. Archibald Guillone or Guil- 
 lane, chosen Head-Master ; and Robert Blaw, doctor, in their stead. 
 Act discharging Private Schools. William Skene succeeds Guillane. 
 Salary of the teachers augmented. The Magistrates change the 
 Latin Rudiments, and the hours of teaching. The Cauongate Gram- 
 mar School destroyed by fire, and its Master permitted to take a 
 house in town for the accommodation of his scholars. Prizes given 
 by the Council at the annual examination of the High School. 
 
 ONE of the earliest acts of the patrons at the opening of 
 the seventeenth century would, had it been earned into
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 41 
 
 effect, have proved unspeakably detrimental to the High 
 School. In the autumn of 1601, the town-council, " after 
 lang deliberatioun," determined that the original plan of 
 the school, of having a principal master assisted merely by 
 an usher, should now be reverted to, and that both should 
 carry on the work of tuition together in the same apart- 
 ment. By this arrangement, which was hastily and in- 
 considerately agreed to, they thus completely set aside a 
 late resolution of their own, " to have four maisters and 
 four scholes." The reason which they assign for this sud- 
 den change is plausible, "in respect," say they, " that the 
 said maisters keippet nocht the ordour given thame, 
 quhairby many inconvenients hes followet." After com- 
 ing to this conclusion, they named two of their body to 
 report the same to the " four Sessiouns of the Kirk, that 
 farder order may be tane with the said schole." 1 The 
 interview with the ecclesiastical functionaries was attend- 
 ed with the best results. They seem to have acted as me- 
 diators betwixt the parties. The council soon agreed to 
 take a longer trial of their first scheme ; and accordingly 
 the record bears, that it is found " expedient to tak ane 
 assay for ane yeir." 2 
 
 Hume was the author of several works in the English 
 language on practical and polemical divinity. Two years 
 before being placed over the High School, he published an 
 able "Treatise on Conscience;" and in 1602 a small 
 volume on " Transubstantiation," in which he exposes 
 that tenet of the Roman Catholic faith. Theology was 
 the grand subject of discussion in the days of Hume ; and 
 in all its controverted heads he was a complete master. His 
 writings show him to have been a man of piety, and that-his 
 sentiments were decidedly scriptural. He was quite an 
 adept in the chief points of difference betwixt the Protest- 
 
 > Council Record, Sept. 2, 1601. 
 2 Ibid. Oct. 9, 1601.
 
 42 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ants and the Papists; and the views of the former he 
 defended with ability and temper. 1 
 
 Hume, though at the head of the metropolitan seminary, 
 and receiving every encouragement in that honourable 
 post, was prevailed upon in the year 1606 to become prin- 
 cipal master of the school which had been recently found- 
 ed at Prestonpans, by John Davidson, the pious, eminent, 
 and generous minister of that parish. " The exertions 
 which Davidson made to provide for the religious and 
 literary instruction of his parish entitle him to the most 
 grateful remembrance. At his own expense he built a 
 church and a manse, a school-house and a dwelling-house 
 for the master. The school was erected for teaching the 
 three learned languages, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ; and 
 the founder destined all his heritable and moveable pro- 
 perty, including his books, to the support and ornament of 
 this trilingual academy." 2 The following is the official 
 account of Hume's presentation and admission to Preston- 
 pans : 
 
 " At Hadintoun, the 25 of Julij 1606. The quhilk day 
 Mr John Ker minister of the Panis (Prestonpans) pro- 
 ducit the presentatione of Mr Alexander Hoome to be 
 schoolmaister of the schoole of the Panis foundit be Mr 
 Jo. Davedsone for instructioune of the youth in Hebrew, 
 Greek and Latine, subscryvet be thais to quhome Mr 
 John Davedsone gave power to nominat the man ; quhilk 
 presentatione the presbyterie allowit, and ordenit the mo- 
 deratour and clerk to subscrive the samin in thair names, 
 quhilk thay did ; as also ordeanit that the said kirk of the 
 Panis suld be visited vpon the eight day of Julij next to 
 come for admissione of the said Mr Alexander to the said 
 office. 
 
 1 See APPENDIX, No. VI., for a Chronological Catalogue of the 
 Teachers of the High School and of their Writings. 
 
 2 M'Crie's Life of Andrew Melville, vol. ii. p. 414.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 43 
 
 At Saltprestoun, the 8 of Julij 1606. The haill parisch- 
 oners being poisit how thay lyckit the said Mr Alexander 
 Hoome, with uniforme consent being particularly inquirit, 
 schew thair guid lycking of him and thair willingnes to 
 accept and receiv him to the said office ; quhairupone the 
 said Mr Alexander was admittit to the said office, and in 
 token of the approbatione both of visitors, and of the pa- 
 rischoners present, both the ane and uther tuk the said 
 Mr Alexander be the hand, and the haill magistratis, gen- 
 tlemen, and remanent parischoners present faithfullie pro- 
 misit to concurre for the furtherance of the work that yit 
 restis to be done to the said schoole, as also to keip the 
 said Mr Alexander and his scholleris skaithles. Finallie, 
 for farther authorizing of the said it wes thought meitt 
 that the haill visitors and parischoners suld enter the said 
 Mr Alexander into the said schoole, and there heir him 
 teatche ; quhilk also wes done." l 
 
 The Grammar School of Prestonpans rapidly rose to 
 distinction, and could long boast of the learning and pro- 
 fessional eminence of its teachers. It was when master of 
 that school that Hume prepared his Latin Grammar. It 
 was published in 1612 under the title of Grammatica Nova. 
 In this work, which he dedicated to Alexander Seton, Earl 
 of Dunfermline, Chancellor of Scotland, Hume assigns his 
 reasons for substituting something better in the room of 
 Despauter 2 and Ramus, 3 whose grammatical works were 
 
 1 Record of the Presb. of Haddington, ap. an., and M'Crie's Life of 
 Andrew Melville, vol. ii. pp. 509, 510. 
 
 J John Despauter, or Van Pauteren, a celebrated grammarian, 
 styled the Priscian of the Netherlands, was born at Ninove, a town of 
 Flanders, towards the latter part of the 15th century. He died in the 
 year 1520. His grammar was long the only one used on the continent, 
 and it has been republished in a hundred abridged forms for the use of 
 scholars of every country. 
 
 3 Peter Ramus or La Rammee, a noted French mathematician and 
 philosopher, was born in 1515, and lost his life in the massacre of St 
 Bartholomew's day, 1572.
 
 44 THE H1STOKY OF THE 
 
 chiefly used by the Scottish schoolmasters. In a preface 
 he narrates the difficulties with which he had struggled in 
 attempting to exclude Despauter. These obstructions he 
 finally overcame so far, by the help of Chancellor Seton 
 and the authority of two acts of parliament, as to succeed 
 in substituting his own as the legal grammar. This pre- 
 face is followed by a Paramesis ad parentes, tutores et j>/-a<- 
 ceptores juventutis Scoticae, of which the principal object is to 
 lay down a few rules for the direction of the teacher in 
 conducting the business of a classical seminary. He de- 
 plores in strong terms the voluptuousness, effeminacy, and 
 general corruption of the age, and dwells with singular 
 sensitiveness on the little respect paid to the instructors of 
 youth. To whatever profession a man is to be trained, 
 Hume maintains that his preparatory studies, under strict 
 discipline, should continue until he is twenty-five. Young 
 people ought not, he conceives, to be left to self-government 
 till they can safely steer their course between Scylla and 
 Charybdis. " As soon as a child can speak he ought to 
 love the school. But, in order to this, if parents and guar- 
 dians kept him in tighter rein, teachers would be warranted 
 in leading them by the appliances of crumbs and apples, 
 and could correct whatever is amiss by care, rather than 
 by the rod." At the Schola Anglica, 1 or the initiatory 
 school, he wishes boys to remain for reading and writing 
 till their ninth year, and at ten begin the study of Latin. 
 He next proceeds to mention what books should be used, 
 and the order in which they should be read. 
 
 Like most works of a similar kind then in use, the 
 
 1 The English school spoken of by Hume seems a term strangely mis- 
 applied, and intimating a rapid decline in that proud nationality which 
 we would naturally expect at that period to have reigned predominant 
 in the hearts and language of our ancestors. Take the subjoined as 
 specimens of the English of the period which occur in this author : 
 piger, sweer; ploro, I greet; sales, bourdes.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 45 
 
 Grammatica Nova consists entirely of definitions of gram- 
 matical terms, expressed with all the minute and some- 
 what affected precision for which the logicians and meta- 
 physicians were so famous, and occasionally in language 
 not very intelligible to the modern unpractised in such 
 subtleties. The exact researches of later writers upon 
 grammar, and their careful accumulation of quotations, 
 whether they support or are apparently adverse to general 
 principles, seem in those days to have been little regarded ; 
 and, accordingly, no reference is made by Hume to those 
 passages in the classics by which the accuracy of his doc- 
 trines and opinions may be judged of and determined. If, 
 however, a boy fully mastered all the definitions given, and 
 could readily apply them, his mind must have acquired by 
 such exercise a considerable portion of that acuteness and 
 penetration which it is certainly one great object of classi- 
 cal instruction to communicate. 1 
 
 In 1615 Hume relinquished his situation at Prestonpans, 
 and accepted of the Mastership of the Grammar School of 
 Dunbar. That seminary, like the one which he left, was 
 deservedly in high repute. It will be remembered that it was 
 at the school of Dunbar, under the learned Andrew Simson, 
 who was minister of the parish and rector of the school, that 
 Hume received his own elementary knowledge of Latin. 2 
 
 When schoolmaster of Dunbar, Hume had the honour 
 of being the first, who, in a set speech, welcomed King 
 James to his Scottish dominions after an absence of four- 
 teen years. His Majesty, as he came northward from Ber- 
 
 1 One example of Hume's manner may suffice : 
 
 1. Vox composita quse ex pluribus perfectis conflatur. Earumque 
 alia subsistit, alia accrescit. 
 
 2. Quse subsistit accrescenti substernitur, ut Inperfido,facio. 
 
 3. Quse accrescit subsistenti praeponitur, ut In perficio, per. 
 
 3 For an account of the school of Dunbar, containing curious old re- 
 gulations affecting the school discipline enacted by the magistrates, see 
 Miller's History of that town, published in 1830.
 
 46 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 wick, stopped, on the 13th May 1617, at Dunglass Castle, 
 then a stronghold of the Earl of Home in East Lothian, 
 and there he and his retinue had a most loyal reception. 
 Hume, as the orator of the day, in an elegant Latin address, 
 after taking a rapid and eulogistic review of the acts of some 
 of the King's ancestors, enlarges on the personal qualifications 
 of James ; he contrasts the security which they living on 
 the Borders enjoyed, when compared with the lawless state 
 of things previously to the Union of the Crowns ; and then 
 closes in the name of the head of the clan Hume and his 
 assembled friends and retainers, emphatically assuring the 
 monarch of their devoted allegiance, and of the inexpressible 
 delight which they experienced in once more beholding the 
 face of their beloved sovereign. The speech being ended, 
 several poetical pieces, written for the occasion, were then 
 read, all of which were most graciously received by the 
 King. 1 
 
 Hume continued to exercise his scholastic functions for 
 at least ten years after this interview with royalty ; but 
 of the subsequent history, and the date of this estimable 
 
 1 Muses' Welcome to King James, pp. 1-5. Edinb. 1618, fol. At p. 
 16 of this curious volume, which was digested by Principal Adamson, 
 "agreeably to the order of his Majesties progresse/' the following 
 " poesie " has likewise been preserved : 
 
 AD MUSAS DCNGLASIDES APOSTROPHE <r* ? <tmrixn. 
 
 Nunc hilares, si quando pios cecinistis amorcs, 
 
 Pangite Dunglasides nablia, plectra, lyras 
 Vester amor sacros dignatur reddere vultus 
 
 Quos abiens olim tristibus eripuit. 
 Non Phoebe pura facie formosior illo 
 
 Cum liquida fratris lampade nocte micat. 
 Non Phoebus liquido fulgens cum splendet Olvmpo 
 
 Diffundens radiis lumina laeta suis. 
 Ergo alacres late pia carmina fundite. Lustrat 
 
 Lumine vestra suo limina vester amor. 
 Vos abiens tristes liquit : latasque revisit. 
 
 Pangite Dunglasides nablia, plectra, lyras. 
 
 ALEXANDER HUM1US.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 47 
 
 and learned man's death, we have not been able to obtain 
 any satisfactory information. 1 
 
 It is now time to resume the history of the High 
 School of Edinburgh, immediately subsequent to Hume's 
 removal to Prestonpans. If it seem strange that the mas- 
 tership of a provincial seminary should offer sufficient temp- 
 tations to the rector of the grammar school of the metro- 
 polis to accept of it, much more will the filling up of 
 Hume's place. John Ray, who had been upwards of eight 
 years regent or professor of Humanity in the University of 
 Edinburgh, regarded it promotion to leave the college, and 
 take charge of the High School. His election took place in 
 September 1606. Ray was a native of Forfarshire, and was 
 esteemed by his contemporaries, for his worth, and as a man 
 of great experience as a teacher, and especially as "well seen 
 in Humanity." 2 His duties in the school were discharged 
 with much fidelity and efficiency. By referring to another 
 portion of the volume it will be seen, that during Ray's 
 rectorship great attention was paid, not merely to the com- 
 fort of the head master and his assistants, but also to a judi- 
 cious revision of the course of study, and of the text-books. 
 A Fifth class was established in the High School in 1614, 
 
 1 So late as 1623, Hume was actively engaged adopting measures to 
 secure the introduction of his Grammar into every school of North 
 Britain in which the Latin language was taught. Six of the principal 
 teachers then in Scotland, namely, John Ray, Edinburgh ; Henry Dan- 
 shene, St Andrews ; James Gleg, Dundee ; David Wedderburne, Aber- 
 deen ; John Durward, Perth ; and William Wallace, Glasgow were 
 summoned to compear before the Privy Council on the 10th September 
 of the last-mentioned year, " with twa or thrie of thair scollaris, for 
 conferring and perusing of ane grammer quhilk is cravit be Mr Alex. 
 Home, to be ressauit and teitcheit throwout all the schooles of this 
 kingdome." (Compot. Thesaur. vol. Ixix. fol. 38. August 1623.) On 
 the 27th Nov. 1627, Hume, then schoolmaster of Dunbar, was witness to 
 a deed. (General Regist. of Deeds, vol. cccxcix.) 
 
 2 Crawford's Hist. Univ. of Edinb., p. 41 ; and Dr Thomas Murray's 
 Life of Samuel Rutherford, p. 16.
 
 48 THE HISTOHY OF THE 
 
 and the scholars during their attendance on it were taught 
 the rudiments of the Greek language. 1 In the year 1616, 
 " the Session of the Kirk in Edinburgh," with the view of 
 furthering the cause of education, invested in the city funds 
 the sum of two thousand naerks, of which the one half was 
 "in reddie gold." This money was given and accepted on the 
 express understanding, that the interest thereof in all time 
 coming should he divided among the four doctors of the 
 grammar school. 2 Of some of the doctors or subordinate 
 teachers a few particulars may be mentioned. David Will, 
 who became connected with the seminary in 1619, was a 
 person of superior attainments. He stood a comparative 
 trial, along with the ' famous Samuel Rutherford, for the 
 chair of Humanity in the University of Edinburgh. " Al- 
 though Mr Will pleased the judges most, for his experience 
 and actual knowledge, yet the whole regents, out of their 
 particular knowledge of Mr Samuel Rutherford, demon- 
 strated to them his eminent abilities of mind, and vertuous 
 disposition, wherewith the judges being satisfied, declared 
 him successor in the profession of Humanity." 3 
 
 In 1625 Ray obtained an able coadjutor in the person 
 of William Spang. At the period of his election he had 
 just completed the literary course at the University of 
 Glasgow ; and on coming to Edinburgh he prosecuted his 
 studies with a view to the church. When he had been 
 five years in the High School, the Convention of the 
 Royal Boroughs of Scotland, as patrons, presented Spang, 
 in January 1 630, minister to the Scottish factors and set- 
 tlers at the ancient staple port of Campvere. He pro- 
 ceeded at once to Holland ; and by his countrymen as well 
 as by the Dutch he was held in very great estimation. After 
 be had laboured at Campvere for twenty- three years, he 
 
 1 Council Kecord, Jan. 25, 1611 ; April 22 and Nov. 9, 1614, APP. No. I. 
 3 Ibid., Feb. 7, and June 14, 1616, APP. No. I. 
 3 Crawford's Univ. of Edinb., p. 97.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 49 
 
 accepted an invitation from the English church at the 
 neighbouring town of Middleburg ; and in the latter place 
 he continued to discharge his clerical functions, with undi- 
 minished acceptance till the time of his demise, which 
 took place in June 1664. That Spang was a man of no 
 ordinary talents and acquirements is evident from his lite- 
 rary productions, both in the Latin and English languages. 
 His epistolary correspondence, on civil and ecclesiastical 
 affairs, with his cousin Robert Baillie, Principal of the 
 University of Glasgow, was extensive, and much valued 
 by his learned relative, and by the leading men of that 
 day, both at home and abroad. 1 
 
 After a faithful and duly appreciated service of twenty- 
 three years and upwards, John Kay was removed by death 
 in February 1630. 2 
 
 The office of head-master of the High School was again 
 conferred on a Professor of Humanity. Thomas Craw- 
 ford, the individual referred to, had succeeded Samuel 
 Rutherford in that chair, after a peculiarly strict compara- 
 tive trial. As he has himself recorded 3 the exact way in 
 which the examination was conducted on that occasion, it 
 may interest some to peruse his account of it : 
 
 " It was resolved, with the consent of the judges, that 
 the tryal should be in most part of Latin and Greek au- 
 thors, ad aperturam libri ; whereby, diverse lying aside, at 
 the day appointed by the program, Munday 27th March 
 
 1 For additional notices of Spang, see List of Classical Masters, APP. 
 No. VI. 
 
 2 Ray was the intimate friend of the famous Zachary Boyd, a liberal 
 benefactor to the University of Glasgow. Prefixed to the treatise of 
 that excellent man, entitled ' The last Battell of the Soule in Deathe ' 
 (Edinb. 1629, sm. 8vo), is a Lathi poem of seven stanzas of no mean 
 merit from the pen of Kay, ' In Divina integerrimi viri D. Zach'arijc 
 Bodii, Ecclesiastae, non e" multis meditamenta, cum 4 desperatfi. valetu- 
 dine ad pristinam sahitem revaluerat.' In the Muses' "Welcome, pub- 
 lished by Principal Adamson hi 1617, some Latin verses by Ray occur. 
 
 3 Crawford's Hist. Univ. of Edinb. pp. 104-5. 
 
 D
 
 5.0 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 1626, appeared only Mr John Armour 1 and Mr Thomas 
 Crawfurd, at two o'clock in the afternoon, in the High 
 Hall of the Colledge, before the six judges, the Primar 
 and Regents, with a frequent number of learned men. 
 
 " The lot to speak first fell to Mr Thomas Crawfurd, 2 
 the other in the meantime being removed. The authors 
 cast up were, 1. Plautus. 2. Some parts of Ovid. 3. 
 Some parts of Horace. 4. Lucan. 5, Juvenal. 6. Vir- 
 gil. 7. Hesiod. 8. Orphei Thymiata. Both being heard 
 (so long as the judges thought fit), election was made of 
 Mr Thomas, who was appointed to-morrow at 2 o'clock to 
 make an inaugural lesson upon the 14th ode of the 2d 
 Book of Horace, Ad Postumum; it being 8 o'clock be- 
 fore it was prescribed. His admission was on Wednes- 
 day following, 29th day of March." 
 
 It is thus apparent that Crawford, who was elected to 
 the High School at the close of the month in which Ray 
 died, was in point of scholarship quite unexceptionable ; 
 and his qualifications as a teacher were equally undoubted. 
 On the 3d March 1630 he appeared before the patrons, 
 and accepted the office of Head Master of the school, and 
 agreed to obey these injunctions: 
 
 " First. That he sail not remove from the said plaice 
 without speciall licence and consent of the Counsall had 
 and obtenit thairto. Item. He sail be answerabill for the 
 discharge of his owne and his doctors deutye in the said 
 scoole in teaching of the bairnis and exerceising of discipline. 
 
 1 John Armour succeeded Crawford as Professor of Humanity in 
 1630 ; aud in December 1633 he obtained the Chair of Philosophy in 
 the University of St Andrews. 
 
 8 He took the degree of M.A., he says, at St Andrew's hi 1621, (Hist. 
 Univ. of Edinb., p. 100.) On the 1st September 1631 there was " Givin 
 in be Mr Thomas Crawfuird, Maister of the Grainoure Schole, the somne 
 of Tuentie merkis money, and that for Licence and Dispensatioune to 
 pasfurth of the toune to accompleische his marriadge." (Register of the 
 North East or Trinity College Parish, Edinburgh, op. an.)
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 51 
 
 Item. That he sail follow the ordour of the scoole as the 
 samyn is sett down be the Counsall, or as the same sal 
 be sett down, eiked or reformit be thame. Item. That he 
 sail input no Doctors bot such as sail be presented be 
 the Counsall, notwithstanding whereof he sail haive power 
 upone misdemanor to depryve any of the saids : he sail 
 alwayes thairefter notifie the same to the Counsall, and 
 the just reasones wherby the same is done. Item. When 
 annie of the saids doctors plaices sail vaik, he sail im- 
 mediatlie therefter signifie the same to the Counsall. Item. 
 He sail teache the haill lessounes of the scoole himself in 
 the morning, and lykwayis in the efternoone examine 
 thame himself. Item. He sail diligentlie attend upone the 
 scolleris from six in the morning till nyne, and from ten 
 to twelf, and from half ane hour to twa in the efternoone 
 till six in the evening. Item. The Counsall appoints for 
 the said Maister his fiall and stipend the soume of Twa 
 hundreth merkis, to be payed be the thesaurer quarterlie. 
 And farder, for his better maintenance and sustentatioun 
 of the doctors, they ordaine him to ressaive in name of 
 quarter payment of ilk tounes bairne the soume of twentie 
 shillingis in the quarter wherof, twelf shillingis to be payed 
 to the said Maister, and aught shillingis to the Doctor. 
 Item. The said Maister Thomas sail advance the said 
 scoole and colledge to the uttermost of his power." 1 
 
 "When Spang left for Walcheren, he was succeeded, in 
 February 1630, as a doctor in the High School by Archi- 
 bald Newton, who had a few years previously graduated 
 at the University of Edinburgh. Newton appeared three 
 years afterwards as a candidate for the vacant Humanity 
 Chair in the same University. He was u known to be of 
 far more eminent ability" than his fellow competitors; 
 yet another was preferred, Newton " being odious to the 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xiv. ff. 157-8.
 
 52 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Episcopal faction." 1 In 1634 he quitted this seminary, 
 went abroad, and suffered much, nay, was even imprisoned 
 in consequence of his firm adhesion to the Reformed faith. 
 On his return to Scotland, his learning and eloquence soon 
 procured for him professional advancement. He was suc- 
 cessively minister of the parishes of Duddingstone and 
 Liberton ; and in both places he was, as he had been in 
 the High School, beloved and respected. 2 
 
 Crawford took a very active part in the arrangement of 
 the pageant, and in the preparation of the speeches de- 
 livered on the occasion of the entrance of Charles I. into 
 Edinburgh. The following curious account 3 of the King's 
 approach and reception, as given by the worthy Head- 
 Master, will probably not a little amuse, even by its very 
 quaintness, the High School boys of the present day. They 
 too, from their relation to the seminary, and knowledge of 
 the locality, will most readily picture in their minds the 
 sort of impression which the gorgeous spectacle must have 
 then made, and how it must have elicited the enthusiastic 
 admiration of Crawford's pupils, who, a happy band, were 
 grouped together in the most eligible spot to see and be 
 seen on the joyous occasion. 
 
 " His Majestic comeing from Dalkeith by Lastalrig 
 (Restalrig) and the Long Gate, about half six at night 
 came to the West Port. Upon the south side of the Port, 
 upon a prettie pageant, the draught of the citie of Edin- 
 burgh, and suburbs belonging thereto, being exceedingly 
 well pourtrayed, was objected to his Majestie's eye ; and a 
 vaile being removed, the Nymphe Edina, accompanied 
 with two other nymphes, after a short speech of congratu- 
 latioun to his Highness, delivered the keys of the Citie, to 
 be disposed of at his pleasure. After this his Majestic 
 
 ' Crawford's Univ. of Edinb. p. 125. 
 
 3 See List of Classical Masters, APP. No. VI. 
 
 3 Crawford's Hist, of the Univ. of Edinburgh. (MS.copj -in ADV.LIE.)
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 53 
 
 entering the port at the Grassmarket, the Magistrates of 
 the Citie, being richlie habited, did give his Majestic the 
 welcome off ane little stage made for the purpose. In the 
 strait of the West Bow was erected a stately pageant arch- 
 ed beneath for passage, haveing the countrie of Caledonia 
 or Scotland, according to the old typographic, with excel- 
 lent artifice, represented : Off the pageant the Lady Cale- 
 donia, in ancient, but rich habit, delivered ane congratula- 
 torie speech to his Majestic, full of pathetical expressions. 
 Upon the west wall of the tolbooth, 1 where now the gold- 
 smiths' shops do stand, there stood ane vast pageant, arched 
 above, haveing on a large map the pourtraites of 109 
 Kings of Scotland. In the cavity of the arch, Mercuric 
 was represented bringing up Fergus the First, king of 
 Scotland, in ane convenient habite ; who delivered to his 
 Majestic a very grave speech, containing many precious 
 advices to his Royal successour. At the Tron, from the 
 middle of the way southward, the Mount Parnassus was 
 reared up in a vast frame of timber, the superfice repre- 
 senting all the varieties of rocks and vegetables which are 
 to be seen on mountains ; upon the middle betwixt the two 
 tops was erected ane pyramide of great height, with ane 
 globe of glass on the top thereof ; out of the cavity hereof 
 did spring out a source of clear water, representing Hip- 
 pocrene. In the belly of this mountain sat a considerable 
 number of quiristers of choice singing voices, ane organist 
 also, with some other musicians, who, at the King's ap- 
 proaching, in a sweet harmonic emodulated ane pleasant 
 air, composed for the purpose, called Caledonia. On the 
 foreside of the mountain, looking to the north, sat Apollo 
 and the nine Muses, habited convenientlie. The song 
 being ended, Apollo uttered a panegyrick to the King's 
 Majestic, and at the closeing thereof delivered to him ane 
 
 1 This ancient building, which stood in the centre of the High Street, 
 near St Giles' Cathedral, was removed in the year 1817.
 
 54 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 book of panegyricks, and other poems, composed by the 
 Universitie. Thence he removed to the streight of the 
 Netherbow, where there was erected a stately arch, repre- 
 senting so much of the heavenly constellations and plane- 
 tarie influences as could conveniently be applied to the 
 purpose ; and from off this pageant the seven planets, one 
 after another, delivered acclamatorie and congratulatorie 
 speeches, with pithy sentences, agreeing as well to the 
 purpose as to the persons. 
 
 " All these pageants, with the speeches, were devised 
 and composed by Mr John Adamson, Primar, Mr William 
 Drummond of Hauthornden, and the Maister of the High 
 School, joyned to ane Commitee of the gravest and most 
 understanding citizens and clerks : and if you shall con- 
 sider all the entries of the mightiest princes in Christendom 
 for sixscore years before that time, and what was done for 
 their honor, you shall find this nothing inferiour to the 
 most stately and magnificent among them." 
 
 In the course of our investigations we have been most 
 favourably impressed with the disinterested and paternal 
 spirit almost invariably manifested for the welfare of this 
 seminary by its successive patrons. They appear, indeed, 
 to have done all in their power, by the selection of well- 
 qualified teachers, to render the school worthy of public 
 support. The number of Crawford's pupils fluctuated 
 greatly. After all his strenuous and continuous efforts, he 
 found that the popularis aura was constantly veering, and 
 capricious in the extreme. " I was warranted at my first 
 agreement," says he, " by them them that talked with me 
 frae the Councill, to expect 400 bairns at the least. I have 
 not had sence I begann above 180. 1 I was persuaded by 
 
 1 There is no authentic record of attendance at this early period. 
 The article No. VII. of our APPENDIX presents an Abstract of the Yearly 
 Enrolment of Scholars, so far as it can be derived from the existing 
 School Registers.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 55 
 
 sum of the councill, and put in hope that, with my laboures, 
 it wald mend ; wherefor I contented myself and conti- 
 nued at my laboures. But now I fynde by experience 
 that I threshe in the water. Many parentes are led by 
 their bairns to change as aft as they will tak offence at 
 their Maister : fewe can judge when the bairns are well 
 taught ; fewer hath an eye to the schole, to ken whether 
 we be faithful or negligent in our calling. There is no 
 hope that this will mend, except that your wisdomes tak 
 sum speciall care of it. I speak not this only for myself, 
 but also for the gude of the hale youth ; for if it be right- 
 lie considered, there is nae greater hinderance to the pro- 
 gress of knowledge than the changeing of scholes." Craw- 
 ford suggests to the magistrates the expediency of their 
 passing an act, declaring, that those burgesses or ' indwel- 
 lers ' who place their sons at any other seminary within 
 the royalty, or even within a mile of the city, save to 
 their ' awne commoun schole,' shall, for so doing, incur a 
 smart penalty. In addition to this, he entreats his patrons 
 to enact, ' that it sail not be lawfull to parentes to remove 
 their children from the schole, but upon lawful causes 
 proved, and allowed by the councill.' Referring to the 
 annual examination of his pupils, he says, "If it please 
 your wisdomes it will be gude to cause sum silver pennies 
 or siklyke smale rewards and tokens, to be given to the 
 victorers for animi praemio ad laborem incenduntur; and the 
 councill, with the sessioun of the kirk, to meete on the 
 laste day in the schole, and to delyver their tokens with 
 sum solemnitie, quhilk will baith encurage the youth, and 
 countenance your schole. 
 
 " I have consydered also, sence I wrote thir thinges, 
 that now, in the winter morninges, I have too litle tyme 
 to teatch the lessounes. Quhairfore, I wald pray your 
 wisdomes, either to geve commandment that our metinge 
 may continue at sex houres, or els that all the youth break
 
 56 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 their fastes before sevin, and continue in the schole till 
 twelve." 1 
 
 The Corporation paid due attention to Crawford's sug- 
 gestions. Considering, at the same time, that hitherto 
 there had not been " set down anie solid course for the 
 tryell of the maister and doctors in teatching and attend- 
 ing of the scolleris concreddit to thair care," the patrons 
 enacted, " That heirefter yeirlie thair sail be twa visita- 
 tiounes of the Grammer Scule. The first to be upone the 
 last Mononday of October, and the second upone the first 
 Mononday of May thairefter ; and in the weik immediatlie 
 preceeding eache of the saids visitatiounes, that thair be 
 tryell taiken of all the classes be such examinators as sal 
 be appointet be the counsall to that effect, viz. one or two 
 of the ministers, the principal of the colledge, and such 
 uthers as sail be appointet, who sail keip two dyettes for 
 thair tryell and examinatiouns. In the first they sail visit 
 all the inferior classes, and everie doctor sail halve readye, 
 in writt, a minut declairing what authors his classe hes haid 
 since the last visitatioun, and how much of the gramer ; 
 and sum of eache classe to be examined upone the said 
 authores or reuilles, as the saids examinators sail think 
 meitt ; and such of the inferior classes as ar capabill to 
 turne a theame, that thair be prescrybit ane theame to them 
 which everie ane of theme sail delyver to the saids ex- 
 aminators. Item, At the second dyet of the examinatioun 
 thair sail be tryell takin onlie of the hie class, whair the 
 maister sail produce ane nott of the authors taught to 
 theme since the last visitatioun ; whairupone the saids ex- 
 aminators sail examyne such of the said class as they sail 
 think meitt ; and thairefter, the remanent classes being dis- 
 missed, the principall sail prescrybe ane theame which 
 everie one of thame sail mak apairt by himself, without 
 
 1 From the original Memorial, preserved in the Council Chambers.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 57 
 
 the help of any uther, and thairefter wryte it over in 
 mundo, and delyver it to the examinators. Upone the saids 
 dayes of visitatiouri the provist, baillies, and counsall, efter 
 they have hard the hearing and the scolleris dismissed, the 
 examinators sail mak report what they have fund in thaire 
 tryellis, and how the youth haive profited in learning, and 
 thairefter sail remove first the maister and trye if any thing 
 can be fund against him. Then the doctors sail be removed, 
 and tryell sail be taken what the maister or any uther hes 
 to say against them or any one of them. And accordinglie, 
 as the counsall sail find maters to goe in the said scoole, to 
 help and remeid the same. And this forme to be observit 
 yeirlie in all tyme coming. And the maister ordanit that 
 the counsall day proceeding the said weik wherin the said 
 tryell is ordaynit to be taiken, that the maister cum to the 
 counsall and putt them in rememberance of the said dyett. 
 Which ordinance was intimate to Maister Thomas Craw- 
 fuird, present maister of the said Hie Scoole, in presence of 
 the counsall." l 
 
 In December 1640 the services of Crawford were again 
 transferred to the university, " where he held the office of 
 regent in philosophy, and also professor of mathematics, 
 with great reputation," till the period of his death in the 
 spring of 1062. Mr William Spence, schoolmaster of 
 Prestonpans, was unanimously chosen to succeed Craw- 
 ford. The Ordo Scholae Grammaticae Edinensis, prepared 
 in the year 1644, during Spence's incumbency, has been 
 preserved. 2 It contains some particulars, hitherto un- 
 noticed, with regard to the mode of instruction ; we shall 
 state the substance of that paper. 
 
 First or Elementary Class. During the first six months 
 the boys were to be taught the principles of grammar in 
 
 i Council Record, vol. xiv. ff. 200, 201. 
 
 * Chalmers's Life of Kuddiman, pp. 88-90; Bower's University of 
 Edinburgh, vol. i. pp. 398-402.
 
 58 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 vernaculo sermone ; and the Latin names of every thing on 
 earth and in heaven. The remainder of the year, with 
 the exception of a month's vacation in autumn, they were 
 to proceed with their grammar, and, incidentally, to be 
 taught particular sentences relating to life and manners. 
 
 Second Class. The first half of the session the boys were 
 to be regularly exercised on Despauter's grammar, and 
 were required to translate the same into English : more- 
 over, they were to read Cordery. During the latter part 
 of the year they were to be taught daily the syntax of 
 Erasmus. The business of the class was, as much as pos- 
 sible, to be conducted in the Latin language. 
 
 TJiird Class. Through the whole of this session the 
 pupils were to repeat daily a portion of etymology and 
 syntax ; to read, clara voce, Cicero de Senectute and de 
 Amicitia, Terence, Ovid, and Buchanan's Psalms. 
 
 Fourth Class. For the first month, in this session, the 
 boys were to revise what they had previously acquired ; 
 and be taught Despauter's Select Rules, Buchanan's Epi- 
 grams and other poetry, paying strict attention to prosody. 
 During the remaining months they were to be exercised 
 in the composition of Latin verses, and constantly in ap- 
 plying the grammatical rules ; in reading Virgil, Ovid, 
 Cicero, Horace, Terence, Buchanan's Psalms. The beau- 
 ties of these writers were to be pointed out and explained 
 to the scholars. 
 
 Fifth Class. This year the boys were carefully to study 
 the whole of the Rhetoric of Cassander, Cicero's Orations, 
 the speeches in Sallust, Virgil, and Lucan. Care was to 
 be taken that they read distinctly and audibly ; and that 
 they were statedly exercised in declaiming. 
 
 The junior scholars were to be regularly taught the 
 Catechism in the vernacular tongue, and the senior boys 
 through the medium of the Latin language. 
 
 The town-council resolved to hold an extraordinary
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 59 
 
 meeting in the High School on the 10th of March 1646 ; 
 andj directed that intimation thereof should be made not 
 only to the master and under-masters, but likewise to the 
 " Presbyterie of Edinburgh, with the Presbyterie of Dal- 
 kcith." l Whether this examination ever took place is un- 
 certain ; and the records are silent as to the cause which 
 led to the adoption of such an unusual mode of calling in 
 the aid of the Presbytery of Dalkeith to assist in testing 
 the qualifications and acquirements of the teachers and 
 pupils in the metropolitan seminary. A vacancy having 
 occurred in the post of head-master by the sudden death of 
 William Spence, the patrons in July 1650 appointed Hew 
 Wallace, rector of the Grammar School of Haddington to 
 be his successor. That county town can boast of a succes- 
 sion of able teachers from a very early date. Of the dis- 
 tinguished men who were educated at the Grammar School 
 of Haddington, it is enough to mention that John Knox, the 
 Reformer, was one. At one period, James Carmichael, 2 a 
 person of rare piety, genius, and profound scholarship, held 
 the united offices of minister of the parish and rector of its 
 classical school. The latter appointment, to which he was 
 chosen in 1572, did not yield him more than forty pounds 
 Scots a-year of salary, and a shilling quarterly from " ilk 
 toun's bairn." After he had held the combined situations 
 for twelve months, the local authorities resolved that such 
 a union should never again be tolerated. In 1576 they 
 " requirit Mr James Carmichael, in consideratioun of his 
 greit burdin in the ministrie, that he wald condissend that 
 thai myt plant sic ane Maister in thair schole as noways 
 was chargit with ony ministrie, exortin, reding, nor ony 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xvi. f. 74. 
 
 2 James Carmichael, minister of Haddington from 1574 till 1628, was the 
 author of a Latin Grammar, published at Cambridge in 1587, 4to. Rud- 
 diman esteemed it more original than any of the others written by 
 Scotsmen.
 
 60 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 uther service, that he might attend halelie upoun that 
 onelie chairge at all tymes. Mr James allegit mony re- 
 sonis in defens of his titil and diligens. The counsall 
 confessit that the bairns war abstractit fra his schole, not 
 sa meikle fra the negligens or defalt of the said Mr James 
 in his own persoun, as throw the not plantin at all tymes 
 a doctour, quha suld have awatit on the schole als weill in 
 the said Mr James' presens as absens." 1 Carmichael 
 shortly after this devoted his attention solely to his minis- 
 terial avocations, in the discharge of which he was most 
 zealous. The magistrates were careful in supplying his 
 place, and in placing at their new teacher's disposal the 
 services of an efficient doctor or usher. 2 
 
 Wallace, who was brought from Haddington to Edin- 
 burgh, was not long spared to labour in the High School. 
 His health very soon gave way. The patrons, who duly 
 appreciated his services as a teacher, generously came for- 
 ward and assisted him in defraying the expense of a long 
 journey which he undertook in quest of medical aid. In the 
 minutes of the corporation, of date March 28th, 1656, is the 
 following entry : " As Mr Hew Wallace, Master of the 
 grammar school of this burgh, is to go off the country to 
 France for his health, and cure of the stone, wherewith he 
 is grievously tormented, and has supplicated the Council for 
 
 1 MS. Excerpts from the Records of the Town-Council of Hadding- 
 ton, in the possession of David Laing, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 1 See an excellent account of Haddington in the new Statistical Ac- 
 count of Scotland, as also Miller's Lamp of Lothian, pp. 443-458. The 
 manner in which the Haddington authorities determined that the usher 
 of their grammar school should be boarded is curious. On the 28th 
 July 1580, the town-council " decernit all inhabitaris of this burt havand 
 bairns lerand at the schoill to giff to the doctour of the schoill his 
 dayis meit as it falls by ordour for thair bairn ; and giff thai refuse to 
 giff him his meit ordourlie as efferis, the refusaris to pay to him viiij in 
 contention of his said dayis meit refusit, and the nixt day to pass ford- 
 wart be ordour." Mr Laing's MS. Excerpts.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 61 
 
 his support in the journey, which will require a consider- 
 able sum ; and seeing the Council are willing to extend 
 some sign of liberality upon him as their servant, whom 
 they respect, they appoint the Dean of Guild to acquaint 
 the ministers who plead and intercede for him, that the 
 Council is willing to bestow a thousand merks Scots for 
 his charges, upon a discharge to be granted by the Kirk 
 Treasurer to the Council of so much of the annual rent 
 due by the good town to the sessions." This was in- 
 stantly agreed to, and Wallace left Britain for a short 
 while ; but he derived little benefit from his consultation 
 of foreign physicians, having died in the autumn of the 
 last-mentioned year. Impressed with the importance of 
 the trust committed to their charge, as patrons of the se- 
 minary, the magistrates resolved that every precaution 
 should be taken to secure a fit successor to Wallace. 
 " Considering," say they, " how necessary it is that the 
 grammar school be furnished with a schoolmaster of the 
 best qualifications for literature, prudence, gravity, and 
 all other qualifications requisite for the place ; and being de- 
 sirous and resolved to make choice of a person so qualified 
 wherever he can be found, they think fit and ordain that 
 the Lord Provost and magistrates may consider of the most 
 qualified persons within the nation for that office, and to 
 make report of them and their qualifications." After a 
 most anxious inquiry, John Muir, Master of the Grammar 
 School of St Johnston or Perth, became the unanimous 
 choice of the patrons. 
 
 Perth has certainly not been behind any of the provin- 
 cial towns in sending forth from its grammar school well 
 instructed scholars. Andrew Sirnson, 1 who was at the 
 
 ' 1 Simson, who afterwards held the combined offices of minister and 
 schoolmaster of Dunbar, published in 1587 an elementary work, which, 
 from the scene of its author's labours, got the name of the Dunbar 
 Rudiments. It was entitled " Rudimenta Granimatices in gratiam Ju-
 
 62 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 head of the institution for ten years in the middle of the 
 sixteenth century, was so exceedingly popular a teacher, that 
 he had occasionally upwards of three hundred boys under 
 his charge, including the sons of the principal nobility and 
 gentry of Scotland. From his school there proceeded many 
 who became honourably conspicuous and useful both in 
 Church and State. The famous John Row 1 was also one 
 of the predecessors of Muir. In later times Perth has 
 been noted as a place of education ; and of those who re- 
 ceived the elements of learning at its school may be men- 
 tioned the celebrated Earl of Mansfield. 2 
 
 The magistrates of Edinburgh had every reason to be 
 satisfied with the new teacher whom they had obtained 
 from Perth ; and Muir's professional abilities, as well as 
 his enlightened activity in diffusing knowledge, soon gained 
 for him the approbation of the citizens. Muir and his 
 colleagues received an addition to their salaries ; and the 
 patrons evinced a strong desire to see them comfortable 
 and prospering in their calling. A short while previous 
 to this all the teachers appeared in the City Chambers, and 
 gave their " oath of fidelitie and diligence." 
 
 A proposition was inconsiderately made and hastily 
 agreed to by the town-council in the year 1656, which had 
 professedly in view the best interests of the High School. 
 " Two of their number were empowered to wait on the 
 
 ventutis Scoticse conscripta ;" and for more than a century and a half 
 it was used as a text-book in our schools. M'Crie's Life of Melville, 
 vol. ii. p. 425. 
 
 1 Row taught Latin, Greek, and Hebrew at Perth with great applause. 
 Oriental literature was his favourite study ; his Hebrew Grammar and 
 Vocabulary, which appeared in 1G44, were the first works of the kind 
 ever printed in Scotland. He died in 1672, principal of King's College, 
 Aberdeen. See a Memoir of Principal Row, prefixed to the Wodrow 
 Society edition of his father's " History of the Kirk of Scotland from the 
 year 1558 to 1C37." 
 
 2 Cant's Hist, of Perth, vol. ii. p. 195, and Scott's MSS. regarding 
 Perth in the Advocates' Library,
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 63 
 
 College of Justice, to acquaint them that it has been mov- 
 ed to abolish the Humanity Class, as prejudicial not only 
 to the Grammar School, but to the College itself, and pro- 
 posing the salary to be employed some other way for ad- 
 vancing learning." As might have been anticipated, the 
 commissioners very soon returned to their colleagues with 
 the intimation, that the learned body referred to, joint 
 patrons with the town-council of the Humanity Chair, 
 would not for a moment listen to such a recommendation. 
 If the High School did not gain an accession to its senior 
 pupils in consequence of the abandonment of the plan to 
 get rid in a summary way of the Humanity Class in the 
 University, a considerable increase was about this time 
 obtained from another quarter. A number of the boys of 
 George Heriot's Hospital, agreeably to the statutes of that 
 excellent institution, were sent to the Grammar School of 
 Edinburgh. The Herioters, averaging from twenty to 
 thirty at a time, continued for more than a century and a 
 half to attend the High School, and till the governors de- 
 termined that the Latin language should be taught in the 
 Hospital by a resident master. 1 
 
 The masters and boys of the School had very indifferent 
 class accommodation from the time when Cromwell's troops 
 entered Edinburgh after the battle of Dunbar. The English 
 soldiers took possession of the schoolhouse, and used it as 
 barracks. In so dilapidated a state did they leave it, that 
 it was found absolutely necessary to have it thoroughly 
 renovated. 2 In these circumstances the town- council di- 
 
 1 Dr Robert Johnstone, who died in 1639, among his numerous be- 
 quests, appropriated a sum of money, the interest of which he directed 
 should be divided yearly by the town -council of Edinburgh among four 
 scholars of the High School, and a like number of pupils of the School 
 of Moffat. Memoir of George Heriot, &c., p. 78. 
 
 2 For defraying the expenses of the reparation, the council (April 24, 
 1657) ordain the Masters of the Hospital at the foot of Leith Wynd to 
 advance the sum of One hundred pounds sterling out of the readiest of
 
 64 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rected that the adjacent Church of Lady Tester's should 
 in the mean time be used for the purpose of carrying on the 
 work of tuition. 
 
 In the year 1658 a Library, for the benefit of the teachers 
 and pupils, was instituted in the High School, on the re- 
 commendation of the head-master. " The provost and 
 bailies taking to their serious consideration the good and 
 commendable motion of Mr John Muir, master of the 
 Grammar School of this burgh, representing to the council 
 how convenient and expedient it will be for the good of the 
 Grammar School, both masters and scholars that shall be 
 hereafter, to erect a Library in the said school, for all sort 
 of books that may concern humanity and the knowledges of 
 languages ; and desiring the council's authority as patrons 
 and superiors to be granted for the foundation of the same. 
 The council finding it incumbent on them as fautors and 
 favourers of nurseries of learning, to entertain such reason- 
 able motions, tending so much to the good both of masters 
 and scholars, do hereby allow and approve of the said motion, 
 and ordains that there be a Library erected in the most con- 
 venient part of the said school, and appoints the treasurer 
 to supply presses and shelves for that use."i This useful 
 and highly prized appendage of the seminary was founded 
 by donations of books from the teachers, and voluntary 
 contributions from the citizens and the pupils of the school. 2 
 
 the means of the rent of the said Hospital, to be employed upon the repar- 
 ation of the said school, as a work of piety and charity." (Council Record, 
 vol. xix. f. 205.) On the 9th June 1658, a committee was appointed, 
 " to come on the morrow at eleven o'clock, and go to the High School, 
 and see the scholars transported from Lady Tester's Kirk, to the old 
 school now repaired, and to be possessed orderly in their several classes." 
 (Ib. vol. xix. f. 310.) 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xix. f. 267. 
 
 2 Among the first donors of books to the High School Library may be 
 mentioned John Muir, the Rector, and all the Masters ; William Thom- 
 son, principal clerk of Edinburgh ; John Scougall, William Hog, William 
 Nimrno, William Douglas, and Robert Burnet, lawyers; John Lord
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 65 
 
 And here we may observe, that the Library, at present 
 supported by the appropriation of one half the Matricula- 
 tion Fund to its use, consists of about 6400 volumes, and 
 includes the best Greek and Latin Lexicons, the best edi- 
 tions of the classics, several Encyclopaedias, and a valuable 
 collection of antiquarian, historical, and geographical au- 
 thors. The benefits of the Library have hitherto been con- 
 fined to the masters, and pupils of the more advanced 
 classes ; but while we write, a variety of works adapted to 
 more youthful capacities have been purchased, an enlarged 
 catalogue incorporating the supplements of previous years 
 has been printed ; and it has been determined that hence- 
 forth the Library shall be accessible to all the alumni of 
 the Institution. The Rector and Masters, with the assist- 
 ance of the Janitor, discharge in rotation the duties of 
 librarian. 
 
 Mr Robert Leighton, Principal of the University of 
 Edinburgh, officially intimated to the corporation, that 
 many of the students were found ill prepared to benefit by 
 the prelections of the professors, owing to the want of pro- 
 per preliminary training. To remedy this evil, he made 
 these suggestions: " 1. That means should be used 
 whereby grammar schools might be erected in the several 
 presbyteries ; and that a competent free salary may be 
 granted to the masters ; and that it might be endeavoured, 
 that his Highness and Council might grant out of the con- 
 cealed revenues of the Kirk rents a sum for that effect. 
 2. That some sort of Rudiments at least might be con- 
 descended on, part English, part Latin, for the more easy 
 apprehension of little children. Whereupon it is recom- 
 
 Swinton ; Patrick Scott of Thirlestane ; Mr Robert Douglas, one of the 
 ministers of Edinburgh; William Tweedie, professor of philosophy in 
 the University. Mr George Grindlay, merchant in Edinburgh, who 
 died August 11, 1801, devised his library of books and maps to the High 
 School, under certain restrictions. 
 
 E
 
 66 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 mended to Mr Thomas Crawford, that against Michaelmas 
 next he may have in readiness that draught of Rudiments 
 and Grammar which some few years ago he had compiled 
 by desire of the magistrates, that the same may be con- 
 sidered on, and course taken in case of approbation, that 
 the same might be printed and ordained to be made use of 
 in all the grammar schools. And the said Mr Thomas to 
 be considered accordingly for his pains ; and this he re- 
 commended to the ministers, that they might speak with 
 their colleagues, and consider of the best overtures that may 
 be to that effect." 1 
 
 We have repeatedly adverted to the emoluments of the 
 teachers. One periodical source of income, and that at 
 times not inconsiderable, remains to be noticed. On 
 the 20th of January 1660, the town-council appointed " in- 
 timation to be made to the doctors of the Grammar School, 
 that the casualty called the bids-silver be delayed till the 
 first day of March next." This was a gratuity presented 
 to teachers by their scholars at Candlemas, when the pupil 
 that gave most was pronounced king. The designation 
 appears to have originated from the Scottish word bids, 
 signifying any thing that makes a blaze ; it being con- 
 jectured with great probability, that the money was " first 
 contributed for this purpose at Candlemas, a season, when 
 fires and lights were anciently kindled." 2 In addition to 
 the customary quarterly fees, the masters deemed them- 
 selves entitled to a gift in the beginning of February, and 
 this was named a " Candlemas offering." The practice 
 existed in most of the public schools till a comparatively 
 recent period. Candlemas was a holiday ; but the children, 
 in their best attire, and usually accompanied by their pa- 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xix. f. 320. The Latin Rudiments of Crawford 
 (formerly head-master of the High School), mentioned above, was never 
 published. 
 
 J See Jamieaon's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 67 
 
 rents, repaired to the school, and after a short while was spent 
 in the delivery of appropriate orations, the proper business of 
 the forenoon commenced. The roll of the school was 
 solemnly called over, and each boy, as his name was an- 
 nounced, went forward and presented an offering, first to the 
 rector and next to his own master. When the gratuity was 
 less than the usual quarterly fee no notice was taken of it, 
 but when it amounted to that sum, the rector exclaim- 
 ed, Vivat ; to twice the ordinary fee, floreat bis; for a 
 higher sum, floreat ter ; for a guinea and upwards, Gloriat ! 
 Each announcement was the precursor of an amount of 
 cheering commensurate with the value of the " offering." 
 When the business was over the rector rose, and in an 
 audible voice declared the victor, by mentioning the name 
 of the highest donor. This, it must be confessed, was a 
 very disingenuous practice, for the most meritorious 
 scholars might be the least able so to distinguish them- 
 selves. There was usually an eager competition for the 
 honour of king. It has been averred in regard to a pro- 
 vincial school, on an occasion similar to that to which re- 
 ference has been made, that a boy put down a guinea to 
 ensure the enviable distinction of being king for the day, 
 when the father of a rival scholar gave his son a guinea to 
 add to the first "offering;" whereupon an alternate ad- 
 vance of a guinea each took place, till one had actually 
 laid down twenty-four and the other twenty-five guineas ! l 
 Again and again did the town-council of Edinburgh issue 
 injunctions to the teachers to prevent " all craving and re- 
 eaving of any bleyis sylver or bent sylver 2 fcf thair bairnis 
 
 > Council Record, passim ; Cleland's Hist. Account of the Gram. 
 School of Glasgow, p. 17 ; Penny's Traditions of Perth, p. 190. 
 
 * Dr Jamieson, in his Scottish Dictionary, asks, " Can bent be cor- 
 rupted from the French word benit, q. blessed money, as being claimed 
 on some Saint's-day ? " The statement hi the text appears to me tw 
 settle the point.
 
 C8 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and scholares, exceptand four penneis at ane tyme allan- 
 erlie." In days of old, when many of our houses boasted 
 no better floors than the bare earth, it was customary to 
 lay down rushes or bent to keep the feet warm and dry, 
 as well as to give a more comfortable appearance. At 
 the close of the sixteenth century, and commencement of 
 the seventeenth, during the summer season the pupils had 
 leave to go and cut bent for the school. As in these ex- 
 cursions the young bent collectors " oftentimes fell a 
 wrestling with hooks in their hands, and sometimes 
 wronged themselves, other times their neighbours," it was 
 resolved that the boys should have their accustomed " li- 
 berty " or holiday, and likewise that every scholar should 
 present the customary gratuity to the Master on the first 
 Monday of May, and on the " first Mondays of June and 
 July, which is commonly called the bent-silver play, with 
 which money the Master is to buy bent, or other things 
 needful for the school." Happily all such exactions are 
 now unknown ; and at four regular periods in the course 
 of each session the teachers receive from their pupils a 
 fixed fee, which is regarded as a fair remuneration for 
 their professional labour. 
 
 Muir, the faithful and energetic Master of the school, 
 died in December 1659, after a short service of scarcely 
 three years. In the following month the patrons were 
 unanimous in fixing on Mr John Hume or Home, 1 minis- 
 ter of Lesmahago. Five days after a successor to Muir 
 had been appointed, Sir James Stewart, the chief magis- 
 
 1 He was presented by the Presbytery of Lanark to the church and 
 parish of Lesmahago (jure devoluto), August 12th, 1641, and admitted 
 minister there on the 2d of December following. Presb. Record, op. an. 
 In Nov. 1658, " William Home, lawful son to Mr John Home, minister 
 at Lcsmahnnfo," wns elected a br.rsar in tl:e College, on Dr Robert 
 Johnstone's foundation. Council Rec. vol. xx. f. 344. Alexander 
 Hume, the grammarian (see p. 43), had a son named John, born at 
 Prestonpans, Feb. llth 1C08. Can this be the same person? John
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 69 
 
 trate, " produced a letter directed to the Council, from his 
 Excellency Lord General Monk, in favour of Mr David 
 Ferguson, to be schoolmaster of this burgh. Which being 
 read and considered, the Council appoints a missive to be 
 directed to his Lordship in answer thereto, with all sub- 
 mission and dutiful respect to his Lordship's desire, as if it 
 were a real command; but to show upon what necessity 
 they were forced to dispose thereupon, before his Lordship's 
 letter came to their hands, and to enlarge a congratulation 
 of his Lordship's happy success therein, and the provost 
 and bailies to subscribe the same." 1 This obsequious 
 reply must have been highly gratifying to Monk, who 
 was then entrusted by Cromwell with the chief command 
 in Scotland. But the nominee of the General, though he 
 came on the field too late for the present vacancy, was, as 
 will appear in the sequel, not long in attaining the object 
 of his ambition. 
 
 Hume seems to have been extremely anxious that the pu- 
 pils under his charge should not only be minutely taught to 
 translate the Latin language, and to appreciate its beauties, 
 but also that they should be properly instructed in the princi- 
 ples of the Christian religion. Long previously to this 
 time they were wont regularly to attend public worship 
 with their teachers ; and before the conclusion of divine ser- 
 vice were catechised in the presence of the congregation. 2 
 A portion of Lady Tester's Church was set apart for their 
 
 Home or Hume, Master of the High School, was made a burgess and 
 guild-brother of Edinburgh, on the 7th August 1661, in right of Isobel 
 Hope, his spouse, and daughter of the late Harie Hope, merchant. 
 Council Rec. vol. xxi. f. 1. 
 
 i Council Record (Jan. 25, 1660), vol. xx. f. 107. 
 
 * The examination of the children attending the parish school in the 
 church on the Sabbath morning was at one time quite common. In the 
 Session Record of South Leith I find this entry, under date August 8, 
 1616 : " Every Sabbath day, efter the prayeres befoir the blessing, thair 
 sail be twa bairnes, ane frae the gramer scooll that sail repeit Mr Craig's
 
 70 
 
 exclusive use, as was afterwards the east gallery of Trinity 
 College Church. 1 
 
 The town-council, on the personal application of Hume, 
 agreed to print at their expense a small impression of an 
 elementary book which he had compiled for the use of his 
 scholars, in order that the professors and the city clergy 
 might have it in their power to form an opinion of its 
 merits. 2 The little work may have been for a short time 
 employed in the High School ; but there exists no evidence 
 to prove that the judges to whom it had been submitted re- 
 commended its publication. 
 
 There were several private teachers in Edinburgh who, 
 though the council had, according to custom, again and 
 *J again prohibited them, persisted in clandestinely keeping 
 classes in different parts of the town. Like some of his 
 predecessors in office, Hume felt that such opposition af- 
 fected his interests most materially. The boys attending 
 these disallowed seminaries were constantly interfering 
 with the High School pupils ; and both parties were per- 
 petually striving for the mastery in pitched battles known 
 by the name of bickering. 3 
 
 Immediately before the vacation the teachers and their 
 scholars, sometimes in a body, presented to the patrons a 
 
 caritches openlie in the kirk, for the instructioun of the comonnes ; the 
 quhilk Mr Thomas Hog, maister of the gramer scool hes promesit to 
 obey." 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xx. f. 140, and vol. xxvi. f. 198. 
 
 2 Council Record (July 6, 1660), vol. xx. f. 163. " Gideon Lithgo, 
 printer, appeared, and produced some well printed Rudiments, which 
 were ordered to be printed the sixth of this instant, to be perused by 
 the ministers and regents and others, for trial." I have never seen this 
 grammatical work by John Hume ; nor am I aware that a copy of it is 
 to be found in any of the public libraries. 
 
 3 " Compeared (Aug. 15. 1660) Mr John Hume, and complained upon 
 Mr John Mushet and Mr John M'Lure, two of Mr Thomas Blackburn's 
 scholars, for seducing of the said Mr John Hume's scholars to the 
 bickering." Ib. The council directed Blackburn's school forthwith to 
 be closed. The teacher persisted for several months, heedless of the in-
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 71 
 
 written request for the autumnal holidays. Thus, on the 
 14th of August 1663, there compeared at a meeting of the 
 town-council, " Mr John Home, master of the Grammar 
 School, with some of the doctors, and many of the scholars, 
 and presented a petition for granting to them a certain time 
 of vacancy, after the usual form, which being read and 
 considered, the council grants them a vacancy to Friday 
 the 15th of September; and a committee to repair to the 
 High School and dismiss the boys." 1 This annual cessa- 
 tion from scholastic labour the magistrates did not always 
 consider as necessary to be given. On one occasion we 
 find the patrons annexing a strange, but not an unwise, 
 condition to their allowing the wonted liberty. They ac- 
 tually appointed three of their number to repair to the 
 school and intimate to the scholars, that they should not 
 have any vacation till they discharged " their quarter pay- 
 ments to the master and doctors ! " 
 
 In November 1665, Hume, the excellent head-master, 
 died ; and David Ferguson, the person who had been 
 strongly recommended by General Monk for the same si- 
 tuation, about four years previously, was now entrusted 
 with the direction of the school. 2 Every effort was made 
 on the part of the authorities to countenance Ferguson ; 
 and the following excerpt from their minutes may be given 
 as an example : 
 
 " The council finding, amongst many other laudable acts 
 in their book of Register in favors of their public school, 
 commonly called the High School, that it is specially pro- 
 vided by several acts, that no person or persons teach Latin 
 
 junctions. " By his bad example others presumed the like, to the preju- 
 dice of the common grammar school." He at length submitted, to save 
 " his pension which he had out of the gild box." Ib. 
 
 i Council Record, ap. an. 
 
 > On the 2d of January 1667, Ferguson received from the town a 
 yearly augmentation to his stipend of one hundred merks, and each of 
 the doctors had twenty pounds Scots added to his salary.
 
 72 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 or grammar within the city of Edinburgh or liberties there- 
 of, except the masters of the High School only ; as also none 
 living within the town shall send their children without the 
 gates thereof to be taught. And finding likewise that now 
 of late severals do notwithstanding teach both within the 
 city and suburbs thereof as to the public loss and detriment 
 of the city, so likewise to tlys discouragement and over- 
 throw of the High School, they have appointed, constituted, 
 and ordained, like as by these presents they do appoint, 
 constitute, and ordain, that no person or persons, upon any 
 pretension whatever, do or shall teach grammar within the 
 said city or liberties thereof, except the schools of Leith, 
 CanOngate, and the readers' school of West Port, to the 
 prejudice of the High School, and that no inhabitants of 
 the said city having their children living with themselves 
 send them to Bristo or any other places adjacent to or 
 within the liberties of the city, to be taught ; with certi- 
 fication, that whosoever shall offer, in contempt of this new 
 act, to teach within the city or suburbs thereof shall, be- 
 sides personal imprisonment, be fined at the discretion of 
 the then present magistrates, and that whosoever parents 
 having their children at home with themselves shall send 
 them to any adjacent place without the city or suburbs 
 thereof to be taught Latin, shall pay quarterly to the mas- 
 ter of the High School as much as other scholars of the like 
 quality usually are accustomed quarterly to pay. And to 
 the end that this act may find the more ready obedience, it 
 is hereby likewise statute and ordained, that the master of 
 the said High School, or any of his doctors authorised by 
 him, have power from the magistrates to command any 
 two or more, if need be, of the town officers to apprehend 
 and imprison such who by their contumacy and disobe- 
 dience shall be found guilty of the breach thereof. And 
 this act to continue during the council's pleasure." ' 
 i Council Record (Aug. 6, 1668), vol. xxv. f. 104-5.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 73 
 
 Little more than a year after the preceding enactment 
 was issued, the High School was again deprived by death 
 of its head master. Of Ferguson's history, like that of 
 Andrew Rutherford, who succeeded him in October 1669, 
 the biographical notices are very scanty. The latter had 
 charge of the Grammar School of Jedburgh when chosen 
 by the magistrates of Edinburgh. 1 Rapid were the changes 
 at this time in the office of rector. 2 Alexander Heriot, 
 formerly parochial minister of Cranston in Midlothian, be- 
 came Rutherford's successor in May 1672. 3 
 
 The periodic examinations of the High School were 
 conducted in a ceremonial manner. The town council and 
 the clergy, as well as many of the inhabitants, statedly at- 
 tended the quarterly exhibitions ; and the declamation of 
 the orations at the ascension of the classes excited no in- 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xxvii. f. 91. Andrew Rutherford was several 
 years at Jedburgh. " There was another person of the same name, a 
 native of Jedburgh, who attained great celebrity as a scholar in the 17th 
 century, John Rutherford, an intimate friend of George Buchanan. 
 He was established as principal of St Salvator's College, St. Andrews. 
 In the beginning of the 18th century Mr Brown, highly esteemed as a 
 scholar, was schoolmaster of Jedburgh. Thomson the poet, whose father 
 was successively minister of Ednam and Southdean, was educated by 
 Brown. Of this I was informed by some of his fellow scholars, who sur- 
 vived after my coming to Jedburgh in the year 1773. Brown was suc- 
 ceeded by Mr Chisholm, upon whose resignation in 1719, Mr Petrie, 
 afterwards minister of Canobie, was elected master of our school ; and 
 on his removal, Mr Scott, grandfather of Professor Pillans, was chosen 
 in preference to Mr Creech, subsequently minister of Newbattle, and 
 father of Provost Creech, and to George Stuart, afterwards professor of 
 humanity in the University of Edinburgh. Upon the death of Mr Scott, 
 Mr Brewster, father of Dr Brewster, was elected master of Jedburgh 
 Grammar School, and since his resignation Dr Lorraine, and MeSsrs 
 Robertson and Burnett have, in succession, been rectors." (Extract 
 from a letter received many years ago by the Author from the late Rev 
 Dr Thomas Somerville, minister of Jedburgh.) 
 
 2 See APP. p. 54. 
 
 3 Alexander Heriot, M.A., was ordained minister of Cranston, July 
 5, 1660. (Regist. of the Presb. of Dalkeith, ap. an.) In 1663 he was 
 succeeded in that cure by George Kintor, M.A. Ib.
 
 74 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 considerable interest. Those scholars who were leaving 
 for the University were wont, as is still the practice in the 
 Latin Schools on the Continent, to take, in set speeches, 
 formal leave of their masters and class-fellows ; not for- 
 getting to introduce something of a complimentary nature 
 regarding the civic authorities, and other parties present. 
 
 In the year 1679 the rector, and one of his doctors, 
 staunch Presbyterians, were deprived of office in consequence 
 of declining to adhere to Episcopacy. 1 They were not the 
 only individuals who then, for the sake of a good con- 
 science, cheerfully surrendered their appointments. " The 
 town-council having caused cite before them Mr Alexander 
 Dickson, professor of Hebrew in the College, Mr Alexander 
 Heriot, master of the grammar school of this burgh, Mr 
 James Scott, younger, one of the doctors of the said school, 
 Mr Alexander Strang, master of the grammar school in the 
 Canongate, Mr George St Clair, master of the grammar 
 school of Leith, and Mr George Allan, his doctor, they 
 all compeared, except Mr Alexander Dickson, who was 
 lawfully cited. The Lord Provost, in name of the council, 
 did make intimation to them of an act of his Majesty's Privy 
 Council, dated the 6th February instant, anent their giving 
 to them satisfaction, as to the allowing the government 
 of the church by archbishops and bishops, according as it 
 is established by law, and of their willingness to satisfy his 
 Majesty's Privy Council in manner expressed in the said 
 act : and if they gave not obedience thereto betwixt and 
 the 1st day of March next, the council was thereby war- 
 ranted to depose them, and elect some other persons to 
 exercise their respective charges. Mr George St Clair 
 declared to the council that he had formally given satis- 
 faction to the bishop of Edinburgh anent the matter above, 
 and produced a declaration under the said bishop his hand, 
 
 1 See Wodrow's History, vol. iii. p. 3.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 75 
 
 bearing him to have warrant to keep the said grammar 
 school, and desired that the council might represent that 
 to his Majesty's Privy Council as a part of their report." 1 
 
 Heriot and Scott allowed the act of deposition to take 
 effect. In the room of the former the patrons, on the 12th 
 of March, appointed Archibald Guillane, then rector of the 
 grammar school of Perth ; 2 and in Scott's place they elected 
 Robert Blaw, parochial teacher of Calder. 3 
 
 The Privy Council issued a proclamation, prohibiting 
 all private Latin schools to be kept in the city or 
 suburbs ; and in the presence of the magistrates, the in- 
 dividuals against whom the injunction was directed, made 
 the following declaration : 
 
 " Edinburgh, Jan. 28, 1680. We, under subscribers, 
 keepers of Latin schools within this city, bind and oblige 
 us, conform to the Court ordinance, that we shall, before 
 the term of Whitsunday next, cease and forbear to keep 
 Latin schools by teaching children within the city or pri- 
 vileges thereof ; and shall not in time coming take upon us, 
 each of us for our own parts, to teach Latin, or keep a public 
 or private school for that effect in any time coming, under 
 such a penalty as the town-council think fit to impose upon 
 us. Sic subscrib. J. Hannay, George Young, W. Leesone, 
 Robert Wilson, Walter Greenlaw." 4 
 
 The High School enjoyed an almost undisturbed mono- 
 poly, except when some inconsiderate private teacher, re- 
 gardless of consequences, attempted by stealth to set the 
 law at defiance. The death of Guillane in the spring of 
 the last-mentioned year again left the appointment to the 
 mastership in the hands of the town-council. William 
 Skene, the respected head of the grammar school of Had- 
 
 1 Council Record (Feb. 21, 1679), vol. xxix. f. 125. 
 
 2 See APPENDIX, p. 54. 
 
 3 See APPENDIX, p. 54. 
 
 4 Council Record, vol. xxix. f. 203.
 
 76 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 dington, was chosen in May 1680, to fill the situation 
 which the lamented death of Guillane, who took " extra- 
 ordinary pains" on his pupils, had left open. Skene pleased 
 the patrons so much, that they spontaneously resolved to 
 augment his yearly salary from three hundred to five 
 hundred merks, as had been done to his immediate prede- 
 cessor. 1 A short while after, an addition was made by the 
 town-council to the salaries of the teachers. 2 
 
 Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the busi- 
 ness of the school commenced daily a little after six in the 
 morning. This early hour being inconvenient in many 
 respects, a memorial to that effect was submitted to the 
 authorities. The hour of meeting was altered, as appears 
 from the subjoined excerpt from the Council Record ; and, 
 as will be seen, a change was at the same time made in 
 the Latin Rudiments used in the seminary : 
 
 " Edinburgh, September 11, 1696. The council, consider- 
 ing that the High School of this city being situate in a 
 corner at some distance, many of the inhabitants, whose 
 children are tender, being unwilling to expose them to the 
 cold winter mornings, and send them to the said school 
 before the hour of seven, as use is ; therefore, the council 
 ordain the masters of the said school in all time coming, to 
 meet and convene the same at nine of the clock in the 
 morning during the winter season, viz. from the first of 
 November to the first day of March yearly, and to teach 
 the scholars till twelve, that which they were in use to 
 teach in those mornings and forenoons. And considering 
 that the ordinary Latin Rudiments in use to be taught 
 children at their beginning to the Latin tongue is difficult, 
 and hard for beginners, and that Wedderburn's Rudiments 
 are more plain and easy learned, the council ordain the 
 
 ' Council Record, vol. xxx. f. 29. 
 2 See APPENDIX, p. 33.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 77 
 
 .said masters in time coming to teach and begin their 
 scholars with Wedderburn's Rudiments in place of the 
 Latin Rudiments in use to be taught formerly. Ro. 
 CHIESLIE, provost." } 
 
 David Wedderburn, whose elementary work is referred 
 to in the above extract, was an accomplished poet and 
 scholar. He was rector of the grammar school of Aber- 
 deen from the year 1602 till 1640. The magistrates of 
 that town, much to their credit, encouraged him to pre- 
 pare text-books for the use of his pupils ; and his Latin 
 Grammar was honoured with the approval of the Privy 
 Council. But Wedderburn's little volumes, like many 
 similar productions, had to give place in their turn to 
 other works which were regarded, sometimes from dubious 
 causes, as more suitable for adoption. 
 
 The baron bailie of the Canongate, in November 1696, 
 represented to the magistrates, that in a late dreadful con- 
 flagration in that burgh, which had totally destroyed much 
 valuable property, the grammar school had been unfortu- 
 nately included. In the name of his constituents, he craved 
 " the council would, for this time, authorise and empower 
 the schoolmaster to take a house within the good town, for 
 accommodating the said school, until some convenient house 
 should be found out in the Canongate, betwixt and Whit- 
 sunday next." 2 Although the Edinburgh authorities had 
 repeatedly prevented any rival seminary to the High 
 School to exist, they at once agreed to this reasonable re- 
 quest. 
 
 It has already been noticed, that at the annual exa- 
 mination small sums of money were given to the pupils 
 as a mark of approbation for past diligence, and as an in- 
 citement to future industry. This questionable mode of 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xxxv. f. 286. 
 * Council Record, vol. xxxv. f. 297.
 
 78 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rewarding merit was abolished by the patrons ; and the 
 present plan of bestowing suitable prizes in books was in- 
 troduced. 1 When the seventeenth century closed the 
 High School was in a very creditable condition ; and the 
 patrons then declared, that " not a few persons that are 
 now eminent for piety and learning, both in church and 
 state, had been educated there." 
 
 1 On the 2d August 1699, " The council appoints the High School to 
 be visited upon Monday next at three P.M. The treasurer to expend 
 forty pounds Scots for buying of books, to be given as a reward to the 
 best scholars." Council Record, vol. xxxvi. p. 348. This allowance 
 was gradually increased. In 1794 the patrons directed that ten guineas 
 should be expended for that year. In 1848 the sum of L.50 was paid 
 from the Corporation funds for prizes, exclusive of medals. The gold 
 medal given to the best Greek scholar in the Rector's class, is the only 
 one endowed by the city.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 79 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 17011800. 
 
 Changes iu the designation of the Teachers. Mr John Johnstone 
 elected a teacher. Recommendation in favour of the Writing Master. 
 Special Visitation of the School. The literary acquirements of the 
 Masters tested in presence of the Magistrates. Report by the Prin- 
 cipal and the Professors on the state of the High School. Election 
 of Mr George Arbuthnot and of Mr John Ker to Masterships. Riot 
 at the School. Mr Robert Spence of Montrose chosen as one of the 
 Classical Teachers. Death of Mr Skene, and Mi' George Arbuthnot 
 promoted to the Rectorship. Mr John Ker is appointed Professor 
 of Greek in King's College, Aberdeen. David Malloch or Mallet, 
 Janitor of the School. The Teachers to hold office during pleasure. 
 Private Scbools. The College Committee charged with the affairs 
 of the High School. Mr John Love, elected one of the Masters, and Mr 
 John Lees, Rector. School Fees. Complaints touching the School, 
 and a Teacher rebuked. Mr John Love accepts of the Rectorship 
 of Dalkeith Grammar School. Mr James Barclay chosen in the place 
 of Spence. Provost Drummond's flattering statement regarding the 
 School. Salaries of the Masters augmented. Favourable report re- 
 lative to the School. Hours of teaching. Mr Robert Farquhar suc- 
 ceeds to a Mastership. Mr Henry Mackenzie's Recollections of the 
 School. Election of Mr Alexander Bartlet as a Teacher. Mr Alex- 
 ander Matheson chosen Rector. The Rector and the four Masters 
 made honorary burgesses and guild brethren. Mr Luke Fraser 
 chosen one of the Classical Teachers. Mr Alexander Adam is en- 
 trusted with the charge of the Rector's class during the indisposition 
 of Mr. Matheson. They are elected Joint- Rectors, after trial and 
 approval of Mr Adam's literary qualifications. Notice of Mr Adam. 
 Extract from his MS. Memoranda relative to his Latin Grammar. 
 An official communication from Principal Robertson remonstrating 
 against the Rector of the High School being allowed to teach Greek, 
 and to retain the boys a second year in his class. Notice of Mr Al- 
 exander Matheson. Appointment of Mr William Cruickshank in 
 the room of Mr Farquhar. Election of Mr William Nicol instead 
 of Bartlet, deceased. The citizens resolve to raise funds for the
 
 80 THE HISTORY OF TIIK 
 
 erection of a new School-house. Concurrence of the Town- Council. 
 Foundation stone laid. Eminent services rendered on this occasion 
 by Sir William Forbes, Bart., and others. Notice of Mr John Mac- 
 lure. School Exercise by Sir Walter Scott, and his Reminiscences 
 of the High School. The Rector's-class, and the Earl of Buchan's 
 visit. Dean Vincent's correspondence with Dr Adam. Appointment 
 of Mr Alexander Christison to a Mastership in the place of Mr James 
 French. Lieut.-Col. Murray or Macgregor founds a Gold Medal 
 Mr James Cririe succeeds Mr Cruickshank, and Mr William Ritchie 
 elected in the room of Mr Nicol. Dr Adam's account of his ex- 
 perience as a teacher, particularly in the High School. 
 
 THE head-master of the High School has been variously 
 designed in his official capacity. In ancient documents he 
 is called the principal, the master, sometimes the moderator ; 
 and since the commencement of the eighteenth century he 
 has generally been styled the rector. The subordinate 
 teachers, originally designated doctors and regents, are now 
 known by the appellation of masters. 
 
 In May 1702, Mr John Johnstone, " governor to the 
 laird of Monkrig," was preferred to a vacant mastership, 
 having honourably passed an examination before one of 
 the magistrates, two professors, two ministers, and the rec- 
 tor of the school. Having accepted of the office, and taken 
 the usual oath of fidelity, and qualification to government, 
 Johnstone intimated, that " if it was thought fit he was 
 content to sign the Confession of Faith." Two days there- 
 after, Mr James Graham, " governor to the laird of Stony- 
 flatsone," the unsuccessful candidate on this occasion, was 
 received and admitted, " in the most ample form," as a 
 burgess and guild brother of the city. 
 
 Though a teacher of writing had long been attached to 
 .the school, it was, as at the present, quite optional for the 
 boys studying Latin to attend that class. It would appear 
 that many of the High School pupils obtained instruction 
 in penmanship elsewhere. The authorities, believing that 
 their writing-master was not properly countenanced, mani- 
 fested a kindly disposition tOAyards him, by transmitting, in
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 81 
 
 May 1704, a request to the rector and his colleagues in the 
 classical department, that they would use their best endea- 
 vours to get more constant employment to Mr James Alex- 
 ander, the teacher of writing. 
 
 The Presbytery of Edinburgh, on the 10th December 
 1707, appointed a committee to visit the High School ; and 
 by that reverend court the seminary was frequently ex- 
 amined. From the following official paper, it would seem 
 that about this period the High School was not, in the 
 opinion of its patrons, in a very satisfactory condition : 
 " EDINBURGH, October 28, 1709. 
 
 " The Lord Provost (Sir Patrick Johnston), the town- 
 council, the ministers of the city, and professors in the 
 College, having visited the High School ; and the council 
 taking to their consideration the great decay of the school, 
 called the master and doctors before them, to take trial of 
 the cause thereof. Having removed the doctors, and in- 
 terrogated the master, whether or not the decay of the 
 school did proceed from the negligence or insufficiency of 
 the doctors, he answered, that so far as he knew, the 
 doctors did duly attend in the discharge of their duty ; 
 but alleged that the decay did proceed from the great num- 
 ber of private schools in the town. And being interrogated 
 as to his method of teaching, and books that he taught, 
 he gave a full account of them ; and it being alleged, that 
 the decay of the school was his want of authority in dis- 
 cipline, he replied, that if was always his practice to keep 
 a middle way, avoiding of too much severity or too much 
 lenity. Thereafter the doctors were called in, and the 
 master removed, and they being also interrogate whence 
 the decay of the said school did proceed, they alleged that 
 it did proceed from the number of private schools. There- 
 after the master was called in, and all of them, by the Lord 
 Provost, in name of the council, were exhorted to a faith- 
 ful and conscientious discharge of their respective duties. 
 
 v
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The council recommended to Bailie Brodie, and the com- 
 mittee anent the College, to consider what overtures might 
 be given for recovering the said school to its former lustre, 
 frequence, and reputation, and likewise to consider the 
 method of teaching, and report the same with all conve- 
 nient diligence to the council." 1 
 
 On the 9th of December following, Mr Francis Brodie, 
 the College-Bailie, who had uniformly taken great interest 
 in the cause of education, reported, that the committee had, 
 for the better regulation of the school in future, agreed on 
 several points, and as the result of their consultations he 
 produced the report to the council, the tenor whereof fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " Orders anent the High School. 
 
 " In order to recover the same from its decaying condi- 
 tion, it was absolutely necessary that all the masters be un- 
 questionably sufficient, that no man may be uneasy into 
 whose class his child falls to enter ; and to take off all ex- 
 ceptions as to the present masters their want of due quali- 
 fications, it was thought advisable that some of the rever- 
 end ministers of Edinburgh, the reverend principal of the 
 College, with two of the professors, of which the professor 
 of Humanity be one, do take exact trial of all the present 
 masters' sufficiency, and that in presence of the council of 
 Edinburgh, or a committee thereof, and that persons found 
 duly qualified may be suitably encouraged. It seems con- 
 venient to establish the salaries and regulate the quarter 
 payment in manner following, viz. 
 
 u primo. That the rector of the school receive annually 
 Three hundred merks of salary, and each master Two 
 hundred and fifty merks. 
 
 " Secundo. That the rector and masters receive each 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xxxix. p. 519.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 four shillings sterling per quarter from every scholar in his 
 own class. 
 
 " Tertio. That the said rector receive one shilling ster- 
 ling per quarter from each scholar in the four masters' 
 classes, and that over and above the four shillings paid to 
 the said masters quarterly by their scholars ; and the master 
 of the third class 1 receive one shilling sterling from each 
 scholar in the rector's class, and that over and above 
 the four shillings sterling paid to the said rector quar- 
 terly by the scholars in his class, which emoluments will 
 accrue to each of the four masters by turns as their classes 
 advance. 
 
 " The above report being considered by the council, they, 
 with the extraordinary deacons, approved of the said over- 
 tures, and ordained the same to be a standing rule in time 
 coming till the council think fit to alter the same ; and no- 
 minated and appointed the Reverend Mr William Car- 
 stares, principal of the College, Mr David Blair, Mr Wil- 
 liam Mitchell, ministers, Mr William Law, Mr William 
 Scott, professors of Philosophy, and Mr Laurence Duiidas, 
 professor of Humanity, with the foresaid committee, to take 
 trial of the masters of the High School their qualifications, 
 and to report the same to the council ; whereanent these 
 presents shall be a warrant." 2 
 
 No report of the committee which was appointed to ex- 
 amine the teachers has been preserved ; yet we have no 
 doubt that the resolution of the town-council, though im- 
 posing a very delicate and an unusual task, was forthwith 
 carried into effect. 
 
 In the course of two months a very judicious report WHS 
 forwarded to the town-council by the College committee. 
 
 1 The practice for the master of the third class, afterwards of the 
 first, receiving one shilling quarterly from the boys in the rector's class 
 has long since been discontinued. 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xxxix. pp. 555-6.
 
 84 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 That document, which will be found at the end of our 
 volume, is drawn up with considerable care, and points 
 out the best course of preparatory study to those who con- 
 templated entering the University of Edinburgh. In direct- 
 ing the reader's attention to this memorial, 1 which bears 
 the signatures of the principal, and six of the professors, we 
 cannot refrain from introducing here two short paragraphs. 
 
 The first refers to the proper authors to be read. 
 
 " As to the authors publicly taught, the professors, con- 
 sidering that the old Latin writers, commonly called the 
 classics, are the undoubted standard of the language, and 
 may be justly called originals, of which the best books of 
 the moderns are but copies, cannot but think it highly 
 reasonable to look for the propriety and purity of the Latin 
 in the fountains themselves ; and this is no disparagement 
 to the most valued amongst the latest writers, to be obliged 
 to give place to the ancients, their masters. By this pre- 
 ference, how just soever, they would not be understood to 
 condemn the reading, in the lower classes, such books of 
 Dialogues as were written by learned men and great mas- 
 ters of the language, on purpose to facilitate the practice of 
 speaking Latin, much less to thrust out of schools, Bu- 
 chanan's immortal Paraphrase on the Psalms, which, as well 
 upon account of the subject being a part of sacred scripture, 
 as the inimitable beauty of the verse, can never be too 
 much read or studied in Christian schools." 
 
 The next contains the well weighed opinion of practical 
 men in regard to school discipline ; with some excellent 
 suggestions respecting other points materially affecting the 
 prosperity of the seminary. 
 
 " Concerning the discipline of the school, it will be con- 
 venient that the discipline of each class be exercised, as it 
 was some years ago, by its proper master in all ordinary 
 
 J See APPENDIX, pp. 34-3S.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 08 
 
 cases. But, in great faults or disorders, the boys that are 
 guilty are to be chastised by the rector himself, that they 
 may be ashamed, and others frightened from the like faults : 
 That as all the masters have the immediate charge of teach- 
 ing and discipline in their respective classes, so the rector 
 have not only the same charge in his own class, but take 
 care also that all the masters wait punctually on the school 
 at the ordinary diets, be diligent and faithful in their busi- 
 ness ; and if any of them should either neglect his duty, or 
 perform it superficially, or should not observe a prudent 
 constant course of discipline and good order, the rector is 
 then to admonish him privately for the first time ; for the 
 second before all his colleagues ; and if he regard not that, 
 the rector is, without delay, to represent the matter to the 
 magistrates and town-council. 
 
 " That the time of disputing now in the school on Satur- 
 day afternoon, be employed by the rector and masters in 
 reviewing what hath been taught that week in their respec- 
 tive classes, in the way that they shall think most proper 
 and convenient for the improvement of the scholars ; only, 
 the first Saturday of every month, they may be allowed to 
 dispute as formerly : That, at the ascension of the classes, 
 particular care be taken that such only be allowed to ad- 
 vance as understand, tolerably well at least, those things 
 that have been taught the preceding year : That the 
 scholars, every fortnight, be allowed to play and refresh 
 themselves one whole afternoon, in place of all the other 
 ordinary occasions of dismissing the school, such as enter- 
 ing of new scholars, the paying of quarter payment, at the 
 desire of the boy that is victor at Candlemas, or of gentle- 
 men or ladies walking in the yard, &c. But, on public and 
 solemn extraordinary occasions, this matter must be left to 
 the prudence and discretion of the rector and masters." 
 
 The learned individuals who prepared the document 
 from which these excerpts are taken, were men who appre-
 
 80 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ciated to its full extent the value of classical attainment* 
 acquired at the grammar school ; and the happy influence 
 which a sound scholarship exerts on the various depart- 
 ments of society. In the energetic language of an accom- 
 plished modern writer, we would ask, " who are the men 
 of business, who take an active part, and perform that part 
 with credit, in the living world, at this moment, and where 
 have they been educated ? The most distinguished mem- 
 bers of both Houses of Parliament, and in all the liberal 
 professions, the most active magistrates all over the king- 
 dom, the greatest merchants themselves, issuing from the 
 middle classes in society, and filling many of its depart- 
 ments with honour and advantage to themselves and others, 
 were, for the most part, educated either at the grammar 
 schools, or at schools which profess to teach the classics. 
 The church, the courts of justice, the hospitals, the ex- 
 change, exhibit men full of ardour, energetic, skilful, 
 popular ; most of whom have had the benefit, either di- 
 rectly or indirectly, of classical education. Is it not likely 
 that they whose intellectual exertion has been stimulated 
 by the emulation, strict discipline, and interesting business 
 of a public school, should possess minds capable of entering 
 on the usual pursuits of the world, those of honour and 
 emolument, with particular promptitude and alacrity? 
 Honour, esteem, consideration in society, are reserved for 
 that sort of practical man, who has added to the jewel of 
 sound sense the solid gold of the scholar and the polish of 
 the gentleman." 1 
 
 " The Latin writers," says Godwin, another eloquent 
 
 1 See Dr Vicesimus Knox's Defence of Grammar Schools, p. 140. 
 Lond. 1821, 8vo. Dr Knox combated most powerfully the arguments of 
 Milton, Locke, Bacon, and others, who recommend teaching boys things 
 in preference to the classics. There are few compositions in the English 
 language that, for strength of reasoning and brilliancy of style, can be 
 compare:! with this splendid defence of classical education.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 87 
 
 defender of classical learning, " display a happy selection 
 of words ; a beautiful structure of phrase ; a transparency 
 of style ; a precision, by which they communicate the 
 strongest sentiments in the directest form ; in a word, every 
 thing that relates to the most admirable polish of manners. 
 It is appropriate praise of the best Roman authors, that they 
 scarcely present us wilh one idle or excrescent clause ; 
 that they continually convey their meaning in the choicest 
 words. Their lines dwell upon our memory ; their sen- 
 tences have the force of maxims ; every part vigorous, and 
 seldom any thing that can be changed, but for the worse." 
 
 These remarks on the importance of classical learning 
 were written by men of no common sagacity ; and to those 
 accustomed to disparage the advantages to be derived from 
 studying the classics, the pithy sentences from the writings 
 of Knox and Godwin are well deserving of being calmly 
 considered. 1 
 
 In the year 1710, Mr George Arbuthnot, having under- 
 gone the accustomed ordeal of previous examination, suc- 
 ceeded to the mastership, which the retirement of Mr John 
 Arroll left vacant. Arbuthnot's appointment was regarded 
 as a fortunate one to this seminary, in which he remained 
 for a few years only in his subordinate capacity, but, as we 
 shall shortly find, he eventually returned to occupy the 
 rector's chair. 
 
 The school received, in March 1713, an excellent addi- 
 tion to its staff of teachers in the person of Mr John Ker, 
 a native of Dumblane. He had previously held the situ- 
 ation of rector in the respectable and well-attended gram- 
 mar school of Crieffin Perthshire. Mr John M'Lellan, who 
 had competed for the situation when Mr Ker was appointed, 
 had made such an impression on the minds of the electors, 
 that, anticipating their patronage, they "preferred him to 
 
 See Beattie on the Usefulness of Classical Learning ; and also 
 tlrquhart on Classical Learning.
 
 88 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the first vacant post of one of the masters of the High School 
 of this city that shall happen, and allowed to him all the 
 fees and casualties belonging to the said office, from and after 
 the said vacancy, whenever the same shall fall."i The first 
 time that Geography is noticed as forming a part of the 
 course of study, occurs in the minutes of the town -council 
 in September 1715, when the city treasurer was directed to 
 buy geographical maps for the scholars in the High School, 
 not to exceed twenty pounds Scots. 
 
 In the commencement of the winter of 1716, the pupils 
 of the school were guilty of sundry " disorders and irregu- 
 larities." They recklessly demolished every window of the 
 school, and of the adjacent parish church of Lady Tester's ; 
 and even the wall which fenced the playground they com- 
 pletely levelled with the earth. The cause of this outbreak 
 is unexplained. 
 
 This same year, Sir Hew Dalrymple, Lord President of 
 the Court of Session, with other influential parties, brought 
 Mr Robert Spence of Montrose 2 under the favourable 
 notice of the patrons. On the llth September 1717, Mr 
 Spence, without being asked to submit to an examination, 
 was chosen to fill a situation left open by the death of one 
 of the teachers. The sudden demise of Mr William Skene. 
 two months afterwards, caused a vacancy in the rectorship. 
 So satisfied were the magistrates with the way in which 
 Mr George Arbuthnot had discharged his duties when 
 officially connected with this seminary, and with the re- 
 ports which had reached them of his fidelity and success 
 in the Canongate grammar school, of which he Avas the 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xli. pp. 46-7. M'Lellau's name does not again 
 occur in connexion with the High School. 
 
 2 Montrose is honourably distinguished as being the first place in 
 Scotland where the Greek language was publicly taught. As early as 
 the year 1534, John Erskine of Dun, on returning from his travels, 
 brought with him a Frenchman, skilled in the Greek tongue, whom ho 
 settled in Montrose. See M'Crie's Life of Knox.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 89 
 
 esteemed master, that they at once placed him at the head 
 of the High School. 
 
 Towards the close of 1717, Mr John Ker, who had been 
 four years one of the classical teachers, received a presen- 
 tation to the professorship of Greek in King's College, 
 Aberdeen. With great acceptance he performed the duties 
 of that honourable office for seventeen years, when he 
 returned from the north, to occupy the Humanity chair 
 in the University of Edinburgh, to which he was elected 
 October 2, 1734. The late excellent Dr John Erskine, 
 one of his students in the Latin class, has spoken of the 
 enthusiasm with which Mr Ker entered into the books which 
 he explained ; and of his peculiar talents, as well in gaining 
 the affection of his students, as in exciting and directing 
 their ardour in the study of the classics. 1 He died in 
 November 1741 ; and his son, at the request of the Senatus 
 Academicus, taught the Humanity class till Mr George 
 Stuart was installed as his father's successor. We have 
 elsewhere noticed Mr Ker, and his learned writings. 2 Mr 
 Alexander Findlater, schoolmaster at Montrose, was pre- 
 ferred, in 1718, to the vacant mastership which Mr Ker's 
 promotion had occasioned. 
 
 David Malloch, who about this time filled the situation 
 of janitor in this seminary, distinguished himself in after 
 life. Dr Johnson in his " Lives of the Poets," says, that 
 Malloch or Mallet, from the penury of his parents, was 
 glad to accept such an humble appointment. We were 
 inclined to question the accuracy of the statement, as 
 his biographer mentions that the memoir was drawn 
 up chiefly from hearsay testimony. Observing, 
 
 1 Sir Henry Moncrieff "Wellwood's Account of the Life and Writings 
 of John Erskine, D.D., late one of the ministers of Edinburgh, p. 19. 
 Edinb. 1818, 8vo. See likewise the Appendix to the Sermon preached 
 by Dr Erskine, on the death of his colleague Principal Robertson. 
 
 - See APPENDIX, pp. 88-9 ; and Anderson's Poets of Great Britain, 
 Life of David Mallet.
 
 90 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ever, that the election of a janitor was not at that period 
 recorded in the minutes of the Corporation, it occurred to 
 us that the vouchers in the City Chamberlain's custody 
 might probably throw some light on the point. The dis- 
 puted question was speedily put at rest, by the production 
 of Malloch's holograph receipt, dated February 2, 1718, 
 for ' sixteen shillings and eightpence sterling,' being his full sa- 
 lary for the preceding half-year. That was the exact pe- 
 riod he held the office. 1 The janitorship, it should be borne 
 in mind, was not esteemed a post unsuitable to the age, or 
 beneath the dignity of a junior academic. In the Univer- 
 sity the same situation was repeatedly filled by students. 
 Malloch was a native of Dumblane, where Professor Ker, 
 of whom Ave have lately spoken, began his career as pa- 
 rochial schoolmaster. It seems not improbable that Ker 
 took this way of bringing his young friend more im- 
 mediately under the notice of the patrons and teachers 
 of the High School. Malloch was afterwards tutor to 
 the sons of the Duke of Montrose, with whom he made 
 the tour of Europe. He subsequently settled in Lon- 
 don, where he altered his name to Mallet. In refer- 
 ence to this change it was tauntingly said of him, that he 
 was called Malloch by his relations, Mallet by his friends, 
 and Moloch by his enemies. His first publication was the 
 
 1 As the Janitor is a personage of vast importance in the eye of an 
 Edinburgh High School boy, the subjoined list of those useful function- 
 aries may perhaps recal some curious scenes in connexion with the 
 yards, and be deemed not quite undeserving of preservation : 1694 
 Magnus Walker; 1705 William Lyle; 1706 John Ewart; 1710 John 
 Morrison; 1712 William Charles; 1717 David Malloch; 1718 James 
 Finlay ; 1720 Robert Scott; 1730 William Crawford (see Gentleman's 
 Magazine for Dec. 1731, vol. i. p. 542); 1759 Thomas Elliot; 1775 
 William Carfrae ; 1793 John Wright ; 1807 William Bowie ; 1831 
 John Gladow ; 1848 Donald Sinclair. In the beginning of last century 
 the yearly allowance which the Janitor received from the town was 
 L.I : 13 : 4 : since then the sum of five pounds is all that has been add- 
 ed to his salary. In addition to this he receives at present one half of 
 the Matriculation fee.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 91 
 
 beautiful ballad of 'William and Margaret,' which was 
 followed by several other works, which secured for him 
 considerable celebrity. With Pope, and Thomson, and a 
 host of literary characters, he was on intimate terms. 1 
 
 On the 28th August 1719, the Corporation unanimously 
 resolved, with the view of preventing ' disagreeable conse- 
 quences,' that no professor or teacher should be appointed 
 in future except during the pleasure of the council, and 
 that a clause to that effect be inserted in every deed of 
 presentation. 2 
 
 On the 5th of August 1724, the committee named to 
 consider a memorial given in by the rector and masters 
 of the High School, were of opinion, that the following 
 particulars should be offered to the council's consideration 
 for their approbation, viz. that the rector and masters 
 have done faithfully and prudently in presenting the said 
 memorial, and deserved all due encouragement for their 
 care and concern about the education of youth in the city, 
 and the reforming of their manners. 
 
 That private schools, as now increased in number, under 
 bad management, and wanting order and discipline, are 
 not only prejudicial to the public masters and public teach- 
 ing, but also hurtful to the manners and education of the 
 youth in this city. 
 
 That none ought to be allowed to teach gramma# within 
 the privileges of this city without authority from the council. 
 
 That the High School and its five masters, with five 
 private teachers, tried and licensed, will be sufficient for 
 the youth in the city. 
 
 1 On the 26th of April 1734, David Malloch received the degree of 
 M.A. from the University of Edinburgh, of which he had been a stu- 
 dent. (MS. Regist. Univ.) The edition of the " Poets of Great Britain," 
 by Dr Robert Anderson, contains an account of Mallet (who died in 
 1765), with excerpts from his correspondence with Professor Ker of 
 Aberdeen, formerly one of the Masters of the High School. 
 
 2 Council Record, vol. xlvii. p. 44.
 
 92 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 That these five privtite teachers, tried and licensed as 
 said is, should be put under regulations as to their method 
 of teaching, in such way as shall be advised by proper 
 persons ; that there may be uniformity betwixt them and 
 the practice to which the masters in the High School are 
 confined, for the better securing the effectual education of 
 youth. 
 
 That these private teachers be obliged to keep the same 
 hours that are observed in the High School, and the same 
 times of vacation, and that they be strictly obliged to ob- 
 serve and regulate the manners of the youth under their 
 care, and for that end to keep up and exercise discipline 
 and correction with prudence and discretion. 
 
 That one of the ministers of the city, the professor 
 of Humanity for the time being, with the rector of the 
 High School, be charged with the oversight and inspec- 
 tion of these private teachers, and for that end that they 
 be authorized to visit their schools at least once every 
 quarter, and enquire into the conduct and behaviour of the 
 masters, and to try the proficiency of the youth under 
 their care, and report to the Lord Provost and Bailies the 
 state of private teaching. 1 This being considered by the 
 council, they approved thereof, and recommended these 
 regulations to be observed in all time coming. 
 
 The committee of the town-council, who watched over 
 the affairs of the University, was, in the year 1733, spe- 
 cially entrusted with all matters connected with the High 
 School, and they were enjoined to visit the seminary on 
 the first Monday of every month, accompanied by some of 
 the professors and ministers. 2 It does not appear that the 
 monthly visitation was long continued. 
 
 The appointment of Mr John Love to a mastership in 
 February 1735, was an important acquisition to the school. 
 
 1 Couucil Record, vol. 1. 303-4. 
 ' Ib. vol. Iv. pp. 355-495.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 93 
 
 His immediate predecessor was Mr Alexander Findlater, 
 who had discharged his duty ' to the great satisfaction of 
 every person.' Mr Love's scholarship was undoubted ; 
 and his professional qualifications had been tried and ap- 
 proved during a fifteen years' tenure of the rectorship of 
 the Dumbarton grammar school. 
 
 In the summer of the same year, Mr Arbuthnot resigned 
 his office of head-master. This worthy man was greatly 
 respected by the community. In a memorial which he sub- 
 mitted to the consideration of his patrons in 1718, for an 
 increase of salary, he mentions that the attendance at the 
 school had been sadly affected by the removal to London 
 of a large proportion of those who were its chief supporters. 
 ' There were then,' says he, ' scarce any of the nobility, 
 and very few of the gentlemen of the country residing in 
 Edinburgh, and the youth who attended his instructions 
 were almost altogether the children of burgesses.' 1 
 
 Mr John Lees, one of the under masters, was promoted 
 to the rectorship; 2 and Mr William Creech obtained the 
 situation which had thus been vacated. The council, as we 
 have seen, so far back as December 1 709, had enacted that 
 the rector of the School should charge four shillings a quarter 
 from each boy attending his class, and have besides a fee of 
 one- shilling sterling from each pupil in the classes of the 
 four masters. The masters were to receive a quarterly 
 fee of four shillings. Disputes had arisen as to the party 
 who was to collect the head-master's shilling. Experience 
 had also shown, that the shilling exacted from the pupils 
 in the rector's " by the master of that class wherein the 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xlvi. pp. 27-8. In the minute here quoted, 
 Arbuthnot states, that the salary of his predecessor Skene had been 
 reduced from 600 to 300 merks. There was ' a great decay of the in- 
 habitants of the city.' Arbuthnot got his salary raised in August 1718 
 from 300 to 500 merks. 
 
 2 Ib. vol. Ivi. p. 25.
 
 94 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 third part of grammar is taught," ought rather to have been 
 bestowed on him who taught the rudiments ; and heart- 
 burnings had been occasioned because it was not distinctly 
 settled in what way the Candlemas offerings should be 
 proportioned between the rector and masters, the patrons, 
 on the 28th January 1736, resolved, that the rector him- 
 self, and no other, shall collect not only his own quarterly 
 fees, but also the fee of one shilling from each scholar in the 
 other classes. The council also transferred the right from 
 the master of the third to the master of the first or elemen- 
 tary class to demand a shilling quarterly from each pupil 
 in the rector's class ; and declared, that the rector and four 
 masters should severally receive from the scholars them- 
 selves whatever benevolence or Candlemas offerings might 
 be presented. 1 
 
 In January 1737, several complaints having been made 
 touching the government of the school, the Corporation 
 nominated a large committee to investigate into the cause 
 of the alleged complaints. That committee instantly began 
 their labours, and in the course of a week the Lord Provost 
 reported, that they were satisfied there was no ground of 
 complaint, except against Mr Gibb, for not being punctual 
 in his attendance. They found that " his class had not 
 profited so much as could have been wished, and were not 
 advanced so far as they really ought to have been ; that 
 his method of teaching was not according to established 
 rules, and this was prejudicial to the school ; that they had 
 in consequence " publicly rebuked Mr Gibb for the same, 
 and admonished him to give punctual attendance, and to 
 double his diligence." The council appointed one of their 
 number to wait on Mr Gibb and intimate, that " unless he 
 shall carefully attend to the aforesaid admonition, he will 
 be dismissed." 2 
 
 1 Conncil Record, vol. Ivi. pp. 241-2. 
 > Ib. vol. Ivii. pp. 179, 187, 196-7.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 95 
 
 Thomas Ruddiman, the celebrated grammarian, along 
 with the rector and masters of the High School, and thirty- 
 one other individuals, established about this time a provi- 
 dent association for their own benefit should they ever re- 
 quire such aid ; as also for the behoof of their widows and 
 children. This society adopted the title of " the company 
 of the professors and teachers of the liberal arts and sciences, 
 or any branch or part thereof, in the city of Edinburgh, 
 and dependencies thereof." The several copartners were 
 equally taxed. When this society had existed about fifty 
 years, owing to the inadequacy of the annual contributions, 
 a dissolution had nearly taken place. But the society soon 
 rallied, and it still exists in a flourishing state. Mr John 
 Maclure, the writing-master of the High School, who died 
 at an advanced age, mentioned to our informant, that of 
 the thirty-seven original members, thirty were buried at the 
 expense of the fund. 1 
 
 The candidates for a mastership during vacancies usually 
 underwent a searching examination as to their qualifica- 
 tions. The death of Mr William Creech, in January 1739, 
 brought forward a number of competitors ; but the choice 
 of the patrons fell on Mr John Rae, schoolmaster of North 
 Berwick. The following report 2 of the learned examiners 
 on that occasion, shows that they did not perform the task 
 assigned them in a perfunctory manner : 
 
 " EDINBURGH, 12th February 1739. 
 
 " We, hereto subscribing, the judges appointed by the 
 Right Honourable the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and 
 Town-Council of Edinburgh, have examined the nine can- 
 didates after mentioned, who, on a public advertisement, 
 
 1 The Minute Book of the Society of Teachers, from 1737 to 1792, 
 which, through the politeness of the treasurer, William Fraser, Esq. 
 W.S., I have had an opportunity of examining 1 , contains a long address 
 by Thomas Ruddiman, delivered before the Society in February 1745. 
 
 2 Council Record, vol. Ix. pp. 31-2.
 
 96 THE HISTORT Or THE 
 
 compeared and offered themselves to a public trial for sup- 
 plying the vacancy in the High School, viz. Messrs William 
 Lander, 1 John Mearns, James Innes, James Wilson, James 
 Anderson, 2 Walter Greig, Robert Anderson, William Brown, 
 and John Rae. 
 
 " After mature reflection and deliberation on the several 
 parts of the trial prescribed to them the eight of February 
 last, do give it as our judgment that, as to the extemporary 
 trials upon some passages out of Livy, Horace, and Bu- 
 chanan's Psalms, eight of the above-named candidates per- 
 formed very well, and by their explication of the several 
 passages discovered such an acquaintance with the Latin 
 
 1 William Lander, mentioned in the text, was a native of Edinburgh, 
 and an excellent scholar, but a person of very questionable character. 
 He was a candidate for the chair of Humanity in the University of Edin- 
 burgh in 1734, when Mr John Ker, of whom we have lately spoken, was 
 appointed. Lauder published a scurrilous pamphlet, now scarce, in 
 which he gives an account of Ker's inaugural lecture, in delivering which 
 the professor " not only began with the tremor oratoris, but continued with 
 it to the end." After enlarging on Ker's lecture in no measured terms, 
 Lauder vents his spleen thus : " The above wonderful Humanist ordi- 
 narily teaches the works of the immortal Mare in the following manner : 
 while his left hand holds a copy of Virgil cum notis in usum Delphini, 
 to assist him, I suppose, at a pinch, in the construction of the words, his 
 right hand is fortified with a manuscript translation, collected from 
 Ogilby, Lauderdale, Dryden, and Trapp ; nor, upon occasion, is the aid 
 of the learned and good [Gawin Douglas] bishop of Dunkeld, wholly 
 neglected. Quaeritur, Whether is that method practised memoriae ju- 
 vandae causa, orjudicii ergo; or both?" On account of the poor ap- 
 pearance which the professor had made in the chair, Lauder no doubt 
 from interested motives entreats him to abandon private teaching, and 
 devote his whole attention to the interests of the University. Notwith- 
 standing this unmerited attack, Ker was, in a variety of ways, kind to 
 his traducer. In 1739, Lauder edited the well-known work entitled, 
 " Poetarum Scotorum Musse Sacrse ;" and in 1740 became a doctor in the 
 grammar school of Dundee. He afterwards published his notorious 
 " Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the Moderns in his Paradise 
 Lost." Lauder made a public recantation of this unfounded charge, and 
 then hurriedly withdrew to Barbadoes, where he died in the year 1771. 
 2 Elected one of the masters in 1739.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 97 
 
 language that, in our opinion, any of them may in that 
 respect be reckoned qualified for the vacant charge ; and 
 though some of them performed with a little more exact- 
 ness and readiness than others, yet we do not think there 
 is ground for making any remarkable difference among 
 them. As to Mr Wilson, though he declined to explain 
 the passage in Horace, yet on the rest of the passages he ac- 
 quitted himself tolerably well, and deserves encouragement. 
 As to the last part of the trial prescribed them, viz. the 
 translating an English argument into Latin, though some 
 of the candidates, viz. Mr William Lauder, Mr Walter 
 Greig, Mr Robert Anderson, and Mr John Rae, particu- 
 larly Mr Lauder, discovered a more elegant and polite turn 
 of writing Latin than the rest, yet, in our opinion, the per- 
 formances of the other five were such as might entitle any 
 of them to the vacant office. Sic sulscrib. Will. Wishart, 
 D.D., Pr. C. Edin. ; Patrick Cuming, P.H.E. ; J. Ker, 
 H.L.P. ; John Lees, Seh. Edin. R. ; Tho. Ruddiman, Bibl. 
 Jurid. Pref." 
 
 The death of Mr John Leslie, 1 the accomplished teacher 
 of the grammar school of Dalkeith, occasioned a vacancy 
 which the Duke of Buccleuch took great pains to have pro- 
 perly supplied. The inducements held out, and the personal 
 persuasions of his Grace were such, that Mr John Love, 
 the ornament of the Edinburgh seminary, was induced to 
 accept of the situation. 2 In Dalkeith he continued to dis- 
 charge, with universal acceptance, those scholastic duties, to 
 the performance of which he had so honourably been called, 
 till his death, which happened September 20, 1750, in his 
 
 1 Mr John Leslie is said to have been one of the ablest teachers in 
 Scotland. He was eleven years master of the grammar school of Had- 
 dington, immediately before going to Dalkeith in 1731. Among his 
 numerous pupils at Dalkeith, was Principal Robertson, the celebrated 
 historian. Mr Leslie died August 18, 1739. (Test. Regist. Edinb. up. 
 an.) 
 
 '* Private information. 
 
 G
 
 98 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 55th year. Ruddiman thus honourably speaks of him : 
 " For his uncommon knowledge in classical learning, his 
 indefatigable diligence, and strictness of discipline without 
 severity, Mr John Love was justly accounted one of the most 
 sufficient masters in the country." 1 For an enumeration 
 of his elaborate writings, and notices of his family, the 
 reader is referred to another portion of this volume. 2 
 
 Mr James Anderson, schoolmaster of Selkirk, was 
 chosen, in October 1J39, the successor of Mr Love in the 
 Edinburgh seminary. 
 
 Mr Robert Spence 3 having, to the regret of the com- 
 munity, been removed by death in June 1742, was suc- 
 ceeded by Mr James Barclay, whose experience as a teacher, 
 attainments as a scholar, and character generally, made his 
 appointment one of great importance. But the Institution 
 did not long retain his services. Dalkeith, for a second 
 time, deprived the High School of one of its best masters. 
 He repaired to that provincial town ; and like his pre- 
 decessor, Mr Love, " conducted the business of the school 
 with great ability and success, till he died in 1765." 4 
 Many of his pupils, both in Edinburgh and Dalkeith, rose 
 to great distinction in various walks of life ; and forty 
 
 1 See Chalmers's Life of Ruddiman ; and Steele's Statistical Account 
 of Dalkeith. 
 
 2 See APPENDIX, pp. 89, 90. 
 
 3 Mr Spence's name was much before the Presbytery of Brechin and 
 Synod of Angus and Mearns, before and after he came to the High 
 School in 1717. He was charged with having been concerned in the 
 rebellion of 1715. Steps were taken by the Church Courts to get him 
 removed from the High School ; but the Magistrates stood forth with 
 success in his defence. " "We are glad to find," say they, " that our con- 
 duct in electing him will bear a review with ourselves, and abide a trial by 
 others. We are so well satisfied with Mr Spence's loyal deportment since 
 he came to this city, and with his extraordinary qualifications for his 
 present station, that we cannot think of removing him, or relinquishing 
 his cause." Council Record, vol. xlvi. pp. 12 and 20. 
 
 * Steele's Statistical Account of Dalkeith.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. <J'J 
 
 years after his death, at one of the anniversary meetings 
 of Mr Barclay's scholars, the following spirited lines, 1 
 composed for the occasion, must have gratified those who 
 had assembled to honour the memory of their learned and 
 respected preceptor : 
 
 Let us talk of old times, for the subject ne'er cloys, 
 When Barclay instructed, and we were but boys ; 
 How we scamper'd away to the North and South Esk, 
 As soon as our emperor quitted his desk. 
 
 He taught us how dactyle and spondee should flow ; 
 In our young tender bosoms he honour did sow ; 
 With virtue he trenched round so closely the mind, 
 That scarce a black sheep in his flock will you find. 
 
 On the bench, in the council, the senate, and bar, 
 Or when the shrill bugle sounds loudly to war, 
 Tis the same, a Leonidas have we to boast, 
 Pate Ferguson gloriously died at his post. 
 
 How well Bill Dalrymple his duty performed, 
 Sword in hand he attacked, and Amoa he stormed ; 
 The soldiers bold spirit he caught when a boy, 
 It was roused when our master gave lectures on Troy. 
 
 Was our master a prophet ? why no, though the breast 
 Of his pupils he so analyzed and impressed 
 With lessons of virtue, that oft he foretold 
 Where talent lay dormant, and how 'twould unfold. 
 
 Barclay knew that young Wedderburn some day would grace, 
 At the head of the peerage, the woolsack and mace ; 
 He foresaw and foretold, that his pupil was bom 
 The first of law courts in the world to adorn. 
 
 To the memory of Rosslyn ! 3 How much to the care 
 Of him who the young tender mind did prepare, 
 
 1 I am indebted for a copy of these stanzas to the Rev. George B. 
 Rutherford, parochial minister of Hounam, Roxburghshire, and a grand- 
 son of Mr Barclay. An original portrait of Mr Barclay is in the pos- 
 session of his grand-daughter, Miss Shiels, Dunse. 
 
 3 Alexander Wedderburn,- first Earl of Rosslyn, received the elements 
 of his classical education at the High School under Anderson and Lees.
 
 100 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Did this first of lawyers and senators owe, 
 Barclay, Tully's bold periods to Rosslyn did show. 
 
 Then let us as friends ever hail one another, 
 A school-fellow surely should be like a brother ; 
 To the memory of Barclay a bumper we'll drink, 
 Who taught us with honour to act and to think. 
 
 Mr John Gilchrist, " sometime assistant to Mr John 
 Love, schoolmaster at Dalkeith," though in a great measure 
 a stranger in Edinburgh, presented himself with ample 
 credentials as a candidate for Mr Barclay's place in the 
 High School. " It is our unanimous opinion," said his 
 examiners in their report to the town-council, " that from 
 the whole trial Mr Gilchrist acquitted himself most to our 
 satisfaction, and seems to deserve the office best." Acting 
 on the principle, detur digniori, the patrons unanimously 
 elected him. 1 
 
 In order to present these brief reminiscences of Mr Bar- 
 clay, we have purposely deferred the mention of some par- 
 ticulars to which we would now advert. Mr George Drum- 
 mond, than whom Edinburgh never enjoyed a chief ma- 
 gistrate more devoted to its interests, rejoiced when an 
 opportunity offered in which he might speak favourably of 
 the High School. Of the public examination in the year 
 1748, he made this statement: 
 
 " The Lord Provost reported, that he and sundry of the 
 
 See List of Eminent Pupils, APP. No. XI. Whether his Lordship was ever 
 at Dalkeith grammar school I cannot say ; though, from the above stan- 
 zas, it is evident he was a pupil of Mr Barclay. But as the latter had a 
 respectably attended private seminary, before Ms appointment to the 
 High School, it is not improbable that Wedderburn may have then re- 
 ceived instructions from him. Among the scholars of Dalkeith grammar 
 school, besides Principal Robertson, we must not forget to mention Henry 
 Dundas, the late Lord Viscount Melville, who was generally present at the 
 social parties of " Barclay's scholars." See Life of Provost Creech, pre- 
 fixed to his " Edinburgh Fugitive Pieces, p. xii 
 1 Council Record, vol. Ixix. p. 13C.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 101 
 
 magistrates and council had on Monday attended the ex- 
 amination, and that the boys behaved extremely well on 
 that occasion; numbers of whom did greatly outdo the 
 expectation of the gentlemen examinators, which gave 
 universal content to all present, and did greatly add to the 
 honour of their teachers." l 
 
 Upon a petition from the rector and masters of this 
 seminary, praying for an increase of their respective salaries, 
 the corporation agreed, July 19, 1749, that the rector's 
 salary, which had previously been five hundred merks, 
 should be augmented to six hundred merks, or L.33 : 6 : 8 
 sterling ; and that each of the classical masters should have 
 L.20 sterling a-year. 2 The salary of the rector has re- 
 cently, and very properly, been raised to 100 per annum, 
 but, strange to say, no addition has been made since 1749, 
 to the exceedingly small salaries of the masters. 
 
 At the annual visitation of the school which took place 
 on the 31st of July 1750, " the examiners and every person 
 present were highly pleased with the proficiency of the 
 boys, and were of opinion their teachers had exerted them- 
 selves with uncommon diligence, and merit all due encour- 
 agement, both from the council and the parents of the 
 children under their charge ; especially as they may rea- 
 sonably hope very soon to see their children acting their 
 parts as useful members of society, owing in a great mea- 
 sure to the conduct and diligence of their teachers." 3 
 
 The patrons have uniformly attended to any representa- 
 tion, respectably signed, which might in any way contribute 
 to the comfort of those attending, or otherwise connected 
 with this seminary. Thus, in October 1754, they received 
 a communication from many of the inhabitants, who had 
 children at the school, complaining of the inconvenience to 
 
 ' Council Record (Aug. 3, 1748), vol. Ixvii. p. 232. 
 
 2 Ib. vol. Ixviii. p. 142. 
 
 3 Ib. vol. Ixix. p. 71.
 
 102 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 them of the school meeting at two o'clock, especially in 
 winter. To obviate the objections which were offered, the 
 council agreed, that from the 1st of October till the sitting 
 of the Court of Session in November, the masters should 
 commence their scholastic labours at nine A.M., and dismiss 
 at twelve noon ; and that the boys should assemble again 
 at three, and dismiss at five o'clock. It was also resolved, 
 that from Martinmas to Candlemas the attendance should 
 be from nine to three o'clock, and that on Saturday as 
 other week-days ; and " from February to the 1st of Oc- 
 tober that the said school meet and dismiss at the hours it 
 is in use to do at that season ; only that in the afternoon it 
 meet at three, and dismiss at five o'clock." 1 
 
 Mr Robert Farquhar, who was at one time master of the 
 grammar school of Forres, succeeded Mi* James Anderson, 
 who resigned his charge in the High School, after a faithful 
 service of thirteen years. According to the records of the 
 city, 2 Mr Farquhar, " both by his handsome appearance 
 at a public comparative trial some years ago, and by most 
 ample recommendations," had made such an impression on 
 the council, that with great unanimity they called him to 
 his new post. 
 
 The late Mr Henry Mackenzie, author of the " Man of 
 Feeling," when nearly fourscore, had the kindness to com- 
 municate to the present writer the subjoined portion of an 
 unpublished work, entitled "Reminiscences and Anecdotes of 
 Edinburgh informer times'." 
 
 " State of the HIGH SCHOOL, when I was there, at the 
 age of six, from 1752 down to 1757. 
 " Rector LEES, a very respectable grave gentleman-like 
 man, father or uncle, I am not sure which, of Lees, the 
 Secretary of Ireland. He maintained great dignity, treat- 
 ing the other masters somewhat de haut en bas; severe, 
 
 i Council Record, vol. Ixxii. p. 249. * Ib.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 103 
 
 and rather too intolerant of dulness, but kind to more pro- 
 mising talents. It will not be thought vanity, I trust, 
 for I speak with the sincerity and correctness of a third 
 person, when I say, that I was rather a favourite with 
 him, and used, for several years after he resigned his 
 office, and till near his death, to drink tea with him at his 
 house, in a large land or building at the country end of 
 the suburbs called the Pleasance, built by one Hunter a 
 tailor, whence it got the nickname of ' Huriter's-Folly,' or 
 the ' Castle of Clouts.' 
 
 " Masters continued. First, or youngest class when I 
 was put to school, FARQUHAR, a native of Banff-shire, 
 cousin-german of Farquhar, author of a volume of admired, 
 and indeed they may be called admirable sermons, and of 
 Mr Farquhar, the vicar or curate of Hayes, a sort of ' Par- 
 son Adams,' a favourite of the great William Pitt, after- 
 wards Lord Chatham. My master was a great favourite 
 of his pupils, about sixty in number* 
 
 " Second, GILCHRIST, a good-humoured man, with a 
 good deal of comedy about him ; also liked by the class, in 
 number somewhat exceeding Farquhar's. 
 
 " Third. RAE, a severe, harsh-tempered man, but an 
 excellent scholar, a rigid disciplinarian, and the only fre- 
 quent flogger of the school ; consequently very unpopular 
 with the boys, though, from the reputation of his superior 
 learning, he had more scholars than either of the above 
 masters. 
 
 " Fourth. GIB, an old man, short and squabby, with a 
 flaxen three-tailed wig, verging towards dotage, though 
 said to be, in his younger days, a very superior scholar, 
 and particularly conversant in Hebrew. He had then only 
 twenty-five or thirty pupils, who liked him from the indul- 
 gence which his good-natured weakness and laxity of dis- 
 cipline produced. 
 
 " The scholars went through the four classes taught by
 
 104 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 the under-masters, reading the usual elementary Latin 
 books for at that time no Greek was taught at the High 
 School and so up to Virgil and Horace, Sallust, and parts 
 of Cicero. They were then removed to the rector's class, 
 where ^hey read portions of Livy, along with the other 
 classics above mentioned. In the highest class some of the 
 scholars remained two years. The hours of attendance 
 were from seven to nine A.M., and after an interval of an 
 hour for breakfast, from ten to twelve ; then after another 
 interval of two hours (latterly I think in my time three 
 hours) for dinner, returned for two hours in the afternoon. 
 The scholars wrote versions, translations from Latin into 
 English ; and, at the annual examination in August, re- 
 cited speeches as they were called, being extracts of remark- 
 able passages from some of the Roman poets. 
 
 " Of eminent men educated at the High School were 
 most of the leading lawyers of Scotland. In modern times 
 were President Hope, Mr Brougham, Mr Francis Horner, 
 Mr Wilde, the great favourite of Mr Burke, Mr Reddie, 
 town clerk of Glasgow, who, during the short time he 
 was at the Edinburgh Bar, had a high reputation for his 
 ability and knowledge of law. Lord Woodhouselee was at 
 school with me, in the class below mine ; so was Lord 
 Meadowbank, who had for his tutor Mr Adam, afterwards 
 rector. The Chief Commissioner Adam was of the same 
 standing and class." 
 
 In January 1759, Mr John Rae having received from 
 the magistrates of Haddington an appointment to the rec- 
 torship of their grammar school, resigned his situation in 
 this seminary. The town-council, by public advertisement, 
 announced the vacancy, and invited candidates to come 
 forward. A number of competitors appeared ; when Mi- 
 Alexander Bartlet, whom the examiners declared to have 
 given " the most satisfying proof of his sufficiency in point 
 of literature," was unanimously elected to fill the vacant
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 105 
 
 office. Mr John Lees, the learned rector of the High 
 School, having, as already mentioned, resigned his office, 
 transmitted a representation of his case to the patrons in 
 July 1765. In that memorial it is stated, that he had 
 served the town about twenty -nine years, first as one of 
 the masters, and subsequently as rector. "When promoted 
 to the direction of the seminary, he found it, though the 
 best constituted of any in the kingdom, very ill attended. 
 Prompted by duty and interest, he applied himself with un- 
 wearied diligence, and, aided by his colleagues, had soon 
 the pleasure to accomplish his object, and raise the school 
 from ninety, the number which he found at his entrance, to 
 two hundred and twenty pupils. In that flourishing state 
 he left the school to his successor. But although he had 
 gained his object, close attendance, the toilsome slavery of 
 teaching, and much speaking, at last brought on an asthma, 
 which increased so much, that he was most reluctantly 
 obliged to quit his post when he found he could no longer 
 conscientiously discharge its duties, simply reserving to 
 himself the salary for six years, which ended at Candlemas 
 last. Mr Lees had realized by his profession a considerable 
 sum, but " had the misfortune," he says, " like many others, 
 even the wisest and most cautious, to put it into hands that 
 became bankrupt ; that these losses now compelled him, 
 though very unwilling, to supplicate the honourable magis- 
 trates and town-council for some relief; flattering himself 
 that he should find them as generous to a worn-out and un- 
 fortunate servant as he found them, while in their service, 
 the kindest masters and the best of patrons." 1 The com- 
 mittee who had been charged with the consideration of 
 this petition of Mr Lees, reported, that " his merit in pro- 
 moting and establishing the reputation of the High School 
 was well known ; and that being now reduced to low 
 circumstances by unavoidable misfortunes, and being in a 
 1 Council Record, vol. Ixxxi. pp. 120-123.
 
 106 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tender and valetudinary state of health, they were of 
 opinion, that a sum equal to the salary of rector should be 
 continued and made payable to the petitioner." To this 
 proposition the town-council cordially acceded, and granted 
 him a pension for life of six hundred merks. But this re- 
 tiring allowance Mr Lees did not enjoy twelve months, 
 having been removed by death in June 1766. 1 
 
 Mr Alexander Matheson, an usher in the grammar 
 school of Haddington, and some time domestic tutor to Sir 
 David Kinloch, Bart., of Gilmerton, succeeded to the head 
 mastership. Subjoined is the report of the committee which 
 had been nominated to test his literary qualifications : 
 " EDINBURGH, February 6, 1759. 
 
 " Whereas, the Lord Provost and council have desired us, 
 whose names are subscribed, to take trial of Mr Matheson 
 with a view to succeed Mr Lees as rector of the High 
 School of Edinburgh, we accordingly, after having con- 
 versed with and taken trial of the above Mr Matheson, do 
 give it as our opinion that he is very well qualified for dis- 
 charging that office in point of literature ; and several of 
 us, from our personal acquaintance of him, are very confident 
 that the office in view, if given to him, will be extremely 
 well supplied. (Signed) Robert Hamilton, Hugh Blair, 
 Robert Dick, George Stuart, Daniel Maqueen, James 
 Robertson, Robert Hunter." 2 
 
 Mr Matheson was unanimously chosen, with a salary of 
 six hundred merks. He had studied at Aberdeen ; and 
 was accustomed to speak with delight of the pleasure and 
 profit which he had received by attending the lectures of 
 Dr Thomas Blackwell, author of the " Life of Homer," 
 
 1 In consequence of a petition signed by Janet Dallas, the relict of Mr 
 John Lees, and Elizabeth and Ann Lees, his daughters, the town-coun- 
 cil, August 6, 1766, granted them three hundred merks Council Re- 
 cord, vol. Ixxxi. pp. 120-123. 
 
 3 Ib. vol. Ixxv. pp. 186-88.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 107 
 
 and " Memoirs of the Court of Augustus." We have been 
 informed by those who knew Mr Matheson, that he was 
 an exceedingly acute man, and that his power of argument 
 and illustration was uncommon. As a teacher he was 
 very successful. He took great pains to make his pupils 
 thoroughly acquainted with their tasks ; and admirably ex- 
 plained every lesson which he had prescribed. His pro- 
 nunciation was strikingly marked with the accent peculiar 
 to Aberdeen. In the classes of the four masters too, which, 
 in his capacity of rector, he regularly visited in rotation 
 once a week for the first six months of each session, he was 
 regarded as a strict examiner. 1 
 
 So exceedingly pleased had the magistrates been with 
 the appearance made by the boys at the public examina- 
 tion in August 1 7G2, that they ordered a considerable ad- 
 dition to be made to the usual prize books. To testify, 
 likewise, their approbation of the efficient manner in which 
 the teachers had performed their duty, they " appointed 
 the Dean, of Guild to admit and receive the five masters of 
 the High School, to wit, Messrs Alexander Matheson, 
 John Gilchrist, Robert Farquhar, Alexander Bartlet, and 
 James French, to be burgesses and guild-brethren of this 
 city, dispensing with the dues for good services done by 
 them to the interest thereof : and resolved, that for the 
 future none of the masters of the High School shall be ad- 
 mitted burgesses until after they are five years in office." 2 
 
 Naturally of a weak constitution, a short while elapsed 
 till Mr Matheson found himself unable for the duties of the 
 public class. His place in the High School was supplied 
 
 1 The information relative to Mr Matheson I chiefly received from 
 the deceased Mr James Cromar, rector of the grammar school of Aber- 
 deen, and from the late Dugald Stewart, Esq., the distinguished professor 
 of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. The latter was a 
 pupil of the High School, first with Mr Matheson, and then with his suc- 
 cessor, Mr Adam. 
 
 2 Council Record, vol. Ixxvi. p. 293.
 
 108 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 by some of the most promising young men then in town. 
 Among the number of his temporary assistants were two 
 gentlemen, Mr Luke Fraser, and Mr Alexander Adam, 
 who almost immediately afterwards became officially con- 
 nected with this seminary. 
 
 Mr Gilchrist, an able teacher, having died in October 
 1766, Mr Fraser obtained the appointment in the following 
 month by a comparative trial, in preference to a number of 
 competitors. He was a native of Dumfries-shire, where 
 he commenced his long and useful professional career. 
 Like several of our most important institutions, the High 
 School, as will be seen, stands much indebted to Dumfries- 
 shire for some of its ablest teachers. The natives of that 
 county, indeed, have long been noted for their intelligence, 
 and predilection for study ; and they have essentially con- 
 tributed towards the literary reputation of Scotland. Mr 
 Fraser wrote Latin with facility, elegance, and purity ; and 
 as he had besides evinced great aptitude for imparting in- 
 struction, his appointment was fortunate for Edinburgh. 
 
 The name of Mr Alexander Adam has also been intro- 
 duced to the reader's notice. Though we have elsewhere. l 
 from original sources, given a biographical sketch of that 
 eminent scholar and teacher, we cannot refrain from insert- 
 ing in this place a general outline of his personal history 
 before he was placed in the rector's chair, which he so 
 nobly adorned. This we do the more readily, as some 
 documents illustrative of Mr Adam's early life have come 
 into our possession since the article in the Appendix was 
 printed. He was born, June 1741, at Coates in the parish 
 of Rafford and county of Moray. His first teacher, Mr 
 George Fiddes, was, as we shall presently show, an excel- 
 lent specimen of those able and worthy men by whom the 
 youth of our country were trained about the middle of last 
 century. Mr Adam's father, a most respectable person, 
 1 See APPENDIX, pp. 55-65.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 109 
 
 was a farmer. His son Alexander, the youngest of the 
 family, had determined to encounter every difficulty which 
 might present itself rather than forego the pleasure of 
 prosecuting those studies for which Mr Fiddes had given 
 him so strong a predilection. Though a mere youth, he 
 had adopted various methods to ensure the accomplish- 
 ment of his wishes. He wrote to the Rev. James Watson, 
 of the Canongate, a relation of his father, and then set off 
 to Aberdeen in quest of an exhibition or bursary. The 
 Rev. Duncan Shaw, minister of Rafford, in a letter dated 
 October 28, 1757, thus writes to Mr Watson : " I ad- 
 vised your relative, Alexander Adam, to go south, and 
 cast himself upon your friendship ; but your long silence 
 discouraged both him and his parents, and made them 
 unwilling any more to trouble you. Your letter for Alex- 
 ander came to my hand on Saturday last, and was de- 
 livered to him how soon he returned from Aberdeen, where 
 he was attending a competition for Philosophy bursaries, 
 one of which he deserved, and would have got, had justice 
 been done to him. In obedience to your letter, and sole 
 dependence on your friendship, he sets out in the begin- 
 ning of next week for Edinburgh, and will, I hope, be found 
 deserving of your encouragement. He has in this country 
 always behaved himself admirably well, and I persuade my- 
 self will continue to do so ; and if I did not think so, I would 
 not at first have recommended him to your favour, nor now 
 have given him this character." Early in the month of 
 November, Mr Adam arrived in the metropolis ; and from 
 Mr Watson he received great attention and kindness. 
 Unauthorised statements 1 have been published regarding 
 
 i See " An Account of the Life and Character of Alexander Adam, 
 LL.D." Edinb. 1810, 8vo. This memoir was drawn up by Alexander 
 Henderson, then in his 18th year. It contains several statements to 
 which its author, on mature reflection, would scarcely have given pub- 
 licity. Mr Henderson afterwards held a lucrative situation in the General
 
 110 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mr Adam's privations, during the first two years of his 
 college life. The following account, hitherto unpublished, 
 is derived from his MS. Memoranda. 
 
 About the beginning of the year 1758, and during the 
 currency of his first session at the University of Edinburgh, 
 he had the misfortune to lose his father, and the small sum 
 which he had brought from the north being exhausted, he 
 was at a loss what to do. He disliked applying to his kind 
 patron Mr Watson ; and with true independence of mind 
 was determined to live on his own resources, and the little 
 which he obtained by private teaching. He lodged at the 
 village of Restalrig, first in Mr "Watson's country house, as 
 mentioned in the Appendix, and afterwards with a neigh- 
 bouring gardener. " The gardener," says Mr Adam, " was 
 a Seceder, a very industrious man, who had family worship 
 very punctually morning and evening ; in which I cordially 
 joined, and alternately said prayers. After breakfast I 
 went to town to attend my classes and my private pupil. 
 For dinner I had three small coarse loaves called baps, 
 which I got for a penny farthing. As I was now always 
 dressed in my best clothes, I was ashamed to buy these 
 from a baker in the street. I therefore went down to a 
 baker's in the middle of a close. I put them in my pocket, 
 and went up some public staircase to eat them, without 
 either beer or water. In this manner I lived at the rate of 
 little more than fourpence a day, including every thing." 
 In the following session he lived in Edinburgh, and added 
 to his baps a halfpenny worth of broth. 
 
 In the spring of 1760, Mr Adam, then a youth of nine- 
 teen, obtained the head mastership of George Watson's 
 Hospital. Shortly after his appointment he received the 
 following excellent letter from his old preceptor : 
 
 Post- Office, Edinburgh. On quitting that appointment he made the tour 
 of Europe, and collected for his private use many valuable and rare 
 books. He died March 1832.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. Ill 
 
 RAFFORD, May 22, 1760. 
 
 DEA.R SIR, I received yours, and am glad to hear that 
 you are carried forward with your education in such an 
 agreeable manner as you mention. Now, I cannot but 
 congratulate you upon your late success in getting into 
 business, which will give you an opportunity of prosecut- 
 ing your studies at a small and trifling expense. 
 
 In taking a view of this kind and benevolent dispensa- 
 tion of Providence towards you, I hope you are before- 
 hand with me in making this reflection, that you can never 
 spend your time, talents, and opportunities to better pur- 
 pose, than in promoting, as far as lies in your power, the 
 honour and interest of your God and Saviour, and keeping 
 alive within a sense of gratitude which will incline you to 
 lay yourself out to walk worthy of such distinguishing mer- 
 cies. Prosperity, no doubt, when quick and impetuous, 
 in weak minds may make men too much elated with its 
 insinuating and deceitful pleasures, so as to attribute too 
 much to their own personal performance. But I hope you 
 are of better established principles than to think that it can 
 continue always, and are determined to show to the world, 
 by the assistance of God, that instead of puffing you up, it 
 will make you humble, decent, regular in every part of 
 your conduct ; and that when^our Heavenly Father has 
 been pleased to smile upon you, and to raise up friends for 
 you, you must wholly ascribe it to the merciful and gra- 
 cious nature of God, and not to any worth or excellence of 
 yourself. 
 
 To behave with sobriety and moderation in prosperity, 
 is an evidence of elevation and sublimity of thought, and 
 plainly shows that the person thus acting discovers how 
 much need he has to be upon his guard, considering the 
 weakness of his understanding, and the bewitching plea- 
 sures of the world. 
 
 I see I must conclude, for I am afraid I have wearied
 
 112 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 your patience. I desire you ever to remember the Lord 
 and his goodness to you, and this will serve as thousands of 
 arguments to you. I wish you all manner of success, and 
 shall be ever glad to hear from you. I am, dear sir, yours 
 affectionately, 
 
 Mr Alexander Adam, GEORGK FiDDES. 1 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 The Rev. Mr "Watson had taken a deep interest in thewel- 
 fare of Mr Adam ; and had written to him several letters of 
 counsel and encouragement. Those epistles happily have 
 been preserved ; and do very great credit to the head and 
 heart of the minister of the Canongate. 2 In November 
 1763, Mr Adam left Watson's Hospital, and became do- 
 mestic tutor to the son of Mr Kincaid, who was subse- 
 quently Lord Provost of Edinburgh. 
 
 In April 1765, he was solicited to take charge of Mr 
 Matheson's class. The task he found a very difficult one. 
 He continued, however, to execute it till the examination, 
 and for several weeks after the re-opening of the school, 
 that Mr Matheson might find a proper successor. Mr Luke 
 Fraser, as we have mentioned, entered on the charge, and 
 continued in it till November 1766, when he became one of 
 the stated masters. Mr Adam was then appointed by the 
 town-council to teach the rector's class. The professor of 
 Humanity, Mr George Stuart, had proposed to him to stand 
 as a candidate for the vacant mastership, a more lucra- 
 tive situation, during Mr Matheson's incumbency ; but 
 the reply was, " if he could not teach in the first place, he 
 should never teach at all in the High School." When he 
 resumed the rector's class, it consisted only of between thirty 
 and forty boys, but several of them were good scholars and 
 made a very respectable appearance at next examination. 
 
 1 This estimable man died in October 1794. 
 
 2 Mr Watson's letters to Mr Adam are printed in the APPENDIX, pp. 
 57 -8, and 59-GO ; and to them we beg to call the attention of our readers.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 113 
 
 In the winter of 1766, the class was more numerous; 
 and Mr Matheson having returned from the country some 
 times taught part of the day along with Mr Adam, who 
 learned much from the accuracy of the rector's method and 
 the strictness of his discipline. In summer, Mr Matheson's 
 health again gave way, and he left town. Complaints now 
 began to be made of the rector's long absence, and the 
 magistrates urged him to resign, a step, however, which he 
 for some time waived. At a civic entertainment, the conver- 
 sation happening to turn on the state of the High School, 
 Provost Laurie said, it had been customary to appoint the 
 ordinary masters by a comparative trial, but that he thought 
 the method improper for a rector, in whom various other 
 qualifications were requisite besides a knowledge of Lati- 
 nity. Mr Adam's name was introduced, and the objection 
 of his youth stated. Dr Maqueen, one of the ministers of 
 the city, who sat near the Provost, asked, " How long will 
 the objection of age be brought against this young man ? 
 It is now six years since the same objection was brought 
 against him on his successful comparative trial for Watson's 
 Hospital ; and therefore the governors elected him only for 
 half a year." Dr Maqueen having spoken further in very 
 favourable terms, the Provost pointedly inquired, whether 
 he considered Mr Adam to be fully qualified in regard to 
 classical learning, Dr Maqueen replied, that if the Lord 
 Provost would authorise him, he was quite willing to ex- 
 amine Mr Adam with a view to the rectorship, and report. 
 The examination Mr Adam underwent was very sifting, 
 and lasted for five hours. The Provost, that he might be 
 still further assured of Mr Adam's qualifications, obtained 
 an attestation from Professor George Stuart, who was 
 known to be partial to another candidate. Professor 
 Stuart's examination was not so long as Dr Maqueen's ; 
 but the passages which he selected for trial were very 
 difficult, the 18th chapter of the Second Book of Livy, 
 
 H
 
 114 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and the 6th Ode of the Fourth Book of Horace. " I 
 should probably have failed," says Mr Adam, " had I not 
 providentially, so I have always considered it, some time 
 before, talked over the chapter in Livy with Mr Matheson, 
 and read the ode of Horace by myself. I have ever esteemed 
 my being prepared on the passages Mr Stuart turned up as 
 one of the most fortunate circumstances of my life, as it 
 gained me the approbation of one who was rather un- 
 friendly." 1 
 
 A committee of ' the most learned men about Edinburgh' 
 was then named by the town-council to examine Mr Adam, 
 and their report as to his fitness was as follows : 
 
 " EDINBURGH, June 6, 1768. 
 
 " In consequence of a remit to us to take trial of the 
 qualifications of Mr Adam, we, whose names are here sub- 
 scribed, do hereby declare, that after having taken trial of 
 Mr Adam, we were fully satisfied that he is well qualified 
 in point of literature to be rector of the High School. 
 (Signed) Geo. Stuart, Patrick Cuming, Robert Hamilton, 
 Robert Dick, Daniel Maqueen, John Erskine." 2 
 
 On this report being read, Mr Matheson and Mr Adam 
 were appointed joint-rectors. 
 
 Mr Adam agreed to give Mr Matheson L.40 per annum 
 for three years, besides the salary (L.33 : 6 : 8) ; and L.50 
 a year, including the salary, ever after. To all appear- 
 ance Mr Matheson had fallen into a deep consumption ; 
 and a residence at Bath, and other parts of England, 
 was at the time of no avail. But his health returned, 
 and he survived his withdrawal from public life upwards 
 of thirty years, devoting his time to private tuition. Many 
 who rose to great eminence embraced the opportunity of 
 attending his classes ; especially those who were desirous 
 to renew their acquaintance with Greek and Latin. It was 
 
 1 Dr Adam's MS. Memoranda. 
 
 2 Council Record, vol. Ixxxiii. p. 110.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 115 
 
 his custom to set apart a portion of each meeting to con- 
 verse in Latin, and he strongly recommended the observ- 
 ance of this practice. In Roman Antiquities he was par- 
 ticularly conversant. 
 
 Mr Matheson took violent exercise and long walks, 
 which, under Providence, had the happy effect of restoring 
 his health beyond expectation. In his summer peregrina- 
 tions he has frequently been known to spend several hours 
 with any ditcher whom he found busy at his humble call- 
 ing ; and at his departure gave the rustic some gratuity for 
 the loan of his pickaxe. The temptation was too great, he 
 also confessed, to pass a barn where the thrasher was at 
 work, without entreating that he might be indulged for a 
 little with the use of his flail. In winter, when he could 
 not go much abroad, he was in the habit of repairing to 
 the shop of Mr Auchenleck, a well-known cutler, and 
 amuse himself in driving the large wheel. One day, when 
 thus employed, a medical student from the sister isle hap- 
 pened to call, and, in the course of conversation, talked 
 boastingly of the attainments of his countrymen in classical 
 lore. Auchenleck patiently listened till a supposed stigma 
 was attempted to be thrown upon Scotland. Firing at 
 this, and wishing to confound as well as convince his loqua- 
 cious customer that his averments were most erroneous, 
 he adroitly observed, that even some of his own workmen 
 were by no means deficient. Having said this he singled 
 out Mr Matheson, who in a quiet corner, at his voluntary 
 task, had been all the while doomed to have his ear grated 
 by this voluble pseudo-scholar, who held quantity at defiance. 
 Matheson came forth, and to the utter confusion of the 
 stranger, convinced him that learning was not exclusively 
 the product of his native soil ; and from the spirited lecture 
 of the ci-devant rector, the Irishman was soon made fully 
 aware that his censure was premature and unmerited. Mr 
 Matheson died at Edinburgh, April 1799.
 
 116 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 To the preparation of a Latin and English Grammar, 
 the new rector devoted his leisure hours. The subjoined 
 account of the Grammar, and of the controversy -which its 
 publication and introduction into the High School occa- 
 sioned, is from the pen of Dr Adam himself when in his 
 60th year ; and it is, in our opinion, an extremely interest- 
 ing literary document : 
 
 " Perceiving the hurtful effects of teaching boys Latin rules 
 which they could not understand, by the advice of Principal 
 Robertson and Dr Blair, I tried to compile a new grammar ; which, 
 after much labour, I in a few years completed. I submitted my 
 work to the inspection of some of the best judges about Edin- 
 burgh, all of whom approved of it. Among the rest, Professor 
 George Stuart, who afterwards became so inimical, had it in his 
 hands for more than a fortnight. When he returned it, I asked 
 the favour of him to meet with me in a tavern, that I might hear 
 his remarks. With this request he readily complied ; and, on the 
 whole, told me that the grammar would do very well, but advised 
 me not to be rash in publishing. 
 
 " In the year 1771, 1 formed a resolution of making, during the 
 vacation, an excursion to the continent, to observe the state of 
 education there, and what grammars were taught in foreign 
 schools. To give me as much time as possible, the magistrates 
 very politely appointed the annual examination of the school in 
 August some days earlier than usual. 
 
 " In about a month after my return to Edinburgh, I received 
 back from Mr Strahan the MS. of my grammar, enclosing a letter 
 from Dr Lowth to Mr Cadell, with his opinion of the book. Dr 
 Lowth's opinion was, on the whole, very favourable, and con- 
 tained almost the very words of the Monthly Review for November 
 1772, where a character of the grammar was given on its publi- 
 cation. Long after, I was informed by Dr Rotheram, who, for 
 several years, had the principal charge of conducting the Monthly 
 Review, that Dr Lowth then took some concern in that periodical, 
 and probably drew up the article on my grammar. 
 
 " I might also have procured the opinion of Dr Samuel Johnson ; 
 but as Dr Blair, in his class, used to ridicule the style of that 
 eminent author, I had not then the same high opinion of Dr
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 117 
 
 Johnson I afterwards entertained. Having dined at Mr Stra- 
 han's, where Dr Beattie was of the party, I went along with him 
 to Dr Johnson's door, and left him there to pay his visit, without 
 asking an introduction. The day after I had received Dr Lowth's 
 opinion of my grammar, I again met Dr Beattie at dinner at 
 Mr Kincaid's, and showed him Dr Lowth's letter. Dr Beattie 
 desired I would send him the MS., and allow him to take it to 
 Aberdeen, which I did with much pleasure. 
 
 " Next winter, before Dr Beattie returned the MS., with the 
 foolish ardour of a young author, I became impatient to get it 
 printed. There was that season a very long and severe storm, 
 which entirely prevented ordinary travelling ; but I had made an 
 agreement with a printer, and through the indulgence of Mr 
 Jackson, secretary of the Post-Office, the MS. was sent to me by 
 Dr Beattie, in small parcels. 
 
 " Dr Beattie paid a great deal of attention to the work, and 
 made many useful remarks on each parcel as he sent it. These I 
 still preserve l as a valuable monument of his friendship. But the 
 person from whom I derived the greatest advantage wasMr Dalzel, 
 then tutor to Lord Maitland and his brother, and since professor 
 of Greek in this university. He read over every sheet as it was 
 printed, and favoured me with the most important observations. 
 Each master in the school at the time also read the whole ; and 
 I still retain the proof sheets on which they made their remarks. 
 
 " The grammar was published in May 1772, and I immediately 
 put it into the hands of my boys. I sent presents of copies to many 
 persons, particularly to the neighbouring teachers ; from several 
 of whom I received letters of approbation. Among others, I 
 sent a copy to Mr Harris, the author of Hermes, who acknow- 
 ledged it in two very polite letters. The character of the book 
 in the Monthly Review was very favourable. Little did I dream 
 of the opposition it would afterwards meet with, and the vexation 
 it would occasion me. 
 
 " A letter written to me by Mr Murray, master of the Gram- 
 mar School at Musselburgh, with whom I was never acquainted, 
 and whom I did not even know by sight, was very striking. He 
 
 ' The proof sheets, with Dr Seattle's MS. corrections, are now pre- 
 served in the High School Library.
 
 H8 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 \ 
 
 said he ' thought the grammar the best book he had ever seen 
 for the purpose of teaching;' but added, that ' it had the deep- 
 rooted prejudices of mankind to combat, and the opposition of a 
 powerful party (meaning the friends of Ruddiman), who, I might 
 be assured, would use every means in their power to damn it.' 
 
 " On my return to Edinburgh after the vacation, I found Mr 
 Farquhar, one of the masters of the High School, had resigned, 
 and his place filled by Mr Cruickshank, master of the Canongate 
 School, whom I had recommended before I went to the country. 
 
 " While at Mr Cruickshank's house one evening, Mr Alex- 
 ander Wood, surgeon, who happened to come in, suggested to 
 me the propriety of applying to the magistrates to authorize my 
 grammar to be taught in the school ; a thing which I had never 
 thought necessary. By Mr Wood's persuasion, however, I did 
 apply to Mr Dalrymple, then Lord Provost, who very politely 
 desired me to write him a card, mentioning what persons I chose, 
 and that he would have them nominated as a committee to con- 
 sider the matter, and report. I wrote to the Lord Provost ac- 
 cordingly, and a most respectable committee was appointed. 
 After consulting with the masters of the school, the committee 
 reported to the magistrates and council, ' that the grammar pro- 
 mised important improvements in the plan of education, and 
 unanimously recommended it to be taught in the High School.' 
 This report was made at the end of September. Having met 
 with Provost Dalrymple at the Cross, I expressed my satisfaction 
 at the report of the committee, expecting that the town-coun- 
 cil would, in consequence of it, order my grammar to be taught. 
 I was somewhat surprised when he abruptly said to me, that he 
 would be a short time in office, and I might apply to his succes- 
 sor. Thereupon I went up to Mr Laurie, who was certainly to 
 succeed as provost, and was standing at a little distance. But 
 when I spoke to him, he answered with great tartness, that ' the 
 report of the committee was all a d job, to please the rector of 
 the High School.' Mr Laurie, being no scholar himself, had been 
 influenced by the* friends of Ruddiman, particularly by Mr George 
 Stuart, professor of Humanity, and Mr Robert Hunter, pro- 
 fessor of Greek, who were not in town when the committee met. 
 They were offended ; the former at the largeness of my class, and 
 the number of those who remained a second year; the latter.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 119 
 
 because I had taken up a private class to teach some of my boys 
 the elements of Greek. At their instigation, and probably with the 
 concurrence of Dr Robertson, a reference was made to the Prin- 
 cipal and Professors of the University to consider the affair of 
 the grammar. 
 
 " In consequence of this reference, a Senatus Academicus, as it is 
 called, was assembled, who gave in to the town-council a memo- 
 rial or representation, waiving the consideration of the grammar, 
 but requiring that I should be prohibited from teaching Greek, 
 and that boys should not be allowed to attend me a second year. 
 
 " A copy of this paper was sent to me. It is as follows : 
 " ' Unto the Right Honourable the Lord Provost, Magistrates, 
 
 and Town-Council. 
 
 ' The Memorial and Representation of the Principal and Pro- 
 fessors of the University of Edinburgh. 
 
 ' As soon as a sufficient number of Professors came to town, 
 the Principal called a meeting of Faculty, and laid before 
 them the remit of the magistrates and town-council concerning 
 the introduction of Mr Adam's grammar into the High School. 
 After reasoning on the subject at considerable length, they 
 agreed, as it required more mature deliberation, to appoint a 
 committee of their number to prepare a report. This is now 
 under consideration of the committee, and, when approved of by 
 the Faculty, shall be presented, with due respect, to the honour- 
 able magistrates and town-council. 
 
 ' But, in the mean time, we beg to lay before our honourable 
 patrons some particulars which affect the prosperity of the Uni- 
 versity so nearly, and are of such importance to the plan of edu- 
 cation in this city, as to call for their immediate attention and 
 interposition. 
 
 ' About the beginning of October the Rector of the High School 
 opened a class for teaching the elements of the Greek language, 
 which a considerable number of his scholars attend. In this, as 
 well as all other Universities of Scotland, the Greek Class is ele- 
 mentary. The Professor begins to teach his students the first 
 principles of that language, and instructs them in the grammar 
 until they are capable of reading the authors in that language. 
 
 ' By this innovation of the Rector's, it is evident that an en- 
 croachment is made on the province of the University, and he
 
 120 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 deprives the Professor of Greek of students, who, according to 
 the accustomed course of education, should have attended his 
 class. We have inspected two sets of regulations concerning the 
 course of education in the High School, framed by the Profes- 
 sors of the University, at the desire of the magistrates, and con- 
 firmed by acts of council, the one in A.D. 1644, the other A.D. 
 1710 ; and by both of these the High School is considered only 
 as a Latin school, nor have any of the present Rector's predeces- 
 sors thought themselves entitled to teach Greek. 
 
 " As the magistrates and town-council are patrons both of the 
 University and High School, we trust, in their attention to the 
 welfare of both these seminaries of learning, that they will pre- 
 vent any interference between them, and will not permit such an 
 encroachment upon the University by a Master under their au- 
 thority, but limit him to his proper function of teaching the 
 Latin language, as sufficient to employ his whole time and attention. 
 
 ' Another practice has been introduced into the High School, 
 which they consider not only as hurtful to the University, but to 
 the education of youth in this city. A considerable number of 
 scholars, after attending the High School five years, which, by 
 the above regulations, is declared to be a complete course, re- 
 main during a sixth year in the Rector's Class. 
 
 ' We acknowledge that in some particular cases, where a boy is 
 of slow capacity, or has been uncommonly negligent, that he may 
 be kept at the High School during a sixth year with propriety and 
 advantage. But the practice has of late increased greatly ; and 
 we can with confidence assure our honourable patrons, that scho- 
 lars who have finished the fifth year of their education, and have 
 made tolerable proficiency in the Latin language, must suffer by 
 being joined during a sixth year with boys of an inferior class, 
 who are not only a year behind them in their course, but who 
 come to a new master unacquainted with those peculiarities in 
 his mode of teaching which are familiar to the other. Though 
 we consider this practice as tending to retard the progress of 
 youth in the knowledge of Latin, we are sensible that it cannot 
 be so easily corrected as the former, by the interposition of our 
 honourable patrons. 
 
 ' But in order to render the plan of education more perfect, 
 and to remove this evil, we propose that the Professors of Greek
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 121 
 
 and Latin, instead of teaching as at present, at the same hours, 
 shall, for the future, teach both their public and private classes 
 at different hours, so that a student may attend both during his 
 first year at the College. Thus his time will be more fully em- 
 ployed. He will begin the study of Greek at a more early period 
 of life, and by attending first the public and then the private classes 
 of Latin and Greek, may make further progress in both than ac- 
 cording to the present arrangement, and all occasion of interference 
 between the University and High School may henceforth cease. 
 
 " Edinburgh College, Nov. 17th, 1772. 
 ' By order of the Faculty, 
 
 ' WILLIAM ROBERTSON, Principal.' " 
 
 " I was desired to give in an answer to the Memorial. I drew 
 up my answer with great freedom, showing by the strongest ar- 
 guments the unreasonableness of both requisitions made in the 
 representation. Before giving in my answer, I read it to Prin- 
 cipal Robertson, who, though he bit his lips on hearing it, yet had 
 the candour to say it was all very well. I delivered the answer 
 in person to Provost Laurie. Nothing was done by the magis- 
 trates concerning the affair. My class continued to increase. 
 
 " In the mean time, the most virulent attacks on the grammar 
 appeared in the Weekly Magazine; and a shilling pamphlet 
 against it was published by Professor George Stuart, and his 
 son Dr Gilbert Stuart. They also succeeded in introducing 
 into the Mercury a scurrilous article personal to myself. 
 
 " I never wrote a line in reply to any of these invectives, but 
 took effectual measures to prevent their insertion in the public 
 newspapers. 
 
 " The masters of the school, influenced by the proprietors of 
 Ruddiman's books, and by Professor Stuart, never adopted my 
 grammar. Mr Nicol did for one course, and was the only ex- 
 ception, but he latterly became most hostile." 
 
 The grammar controversy occasioned great uneasiness 
 to Mr Adam ; but, after many years' disputation, he had 
 the happiness to find his work extensively adopted as a text 
 book, not only in Britain, but in America. 1 Such a Me- 
 
 1 In Chalmers's Life of Ruddiman, pp. 390-403, several papers rela- 
 tive to Mr Adam's grammar will be found ; particularly the opinion of the
 
 1 22 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 morial as that of the Senatus Academicus, which is em- 
 bodied in the preceding extract, exhibits a monopolizing 
 spirit unworthy of the learned body from whom it 
 emanated. 
 
 In the autumn of 1772, the magistrates accepted of 
 the resignation of Mr Robert Farquhar, one of the mas- 
 ters of the school. For more than twenty years he had 
 taught with great assiduity, very much to the satisfac- 
 tion of the public. Mr William Cruickshank, rector of 
 the Canongate grammar school, was unanimously appointed 
 in his stead. In the month of December of the following 
 year, the High School was deprived by death of the ser- 
 vices of Mr Alexander Bartlet, who is characterized as " a 
 good teacher, an excellent classical scholar, and an honest 
 man." 1 Mr William Nicol, student in divinity, became 
 the successor of Mr Bartlet in February 1774. 2 
 
 The class-rooms, which were low in the roof, and by no 
 means in a comfortable state, could not now accommodate 
 the pupils, who had considerably increased in number. 
 Repeatedly had the unsuitableness of the old building been 
 brought under the notice of the Corporation ; but the lack 
 of municipal revenues prevented any thing being done. In 
 consequence of this several of the principal citizens, among 
 others Sir William Forbes, Bart., Mr William Dalrymple, 
 Dr John Hope, professor of botany, and Mr Alexander 
 Wood, surgeon, set on foot a voluntary subscription for 
 rebuilding the High School on a more extensive and com- 
 modious plan. This intention on the part of the inhabi- 
 tants was formally brought under the notice of the patrons 
 on the 8th March 1775, when the town-council agreed to 
 
 Senatus Academicus, and of the masters of the High School. Through 
 the agency of Dr Witherspoon, the grammar was introduced into the 
 United States. 
 
 1 Ruddiman's "Weekly Mag. vol. xxii. p. 416. 
 
 2 See APPENDIX, pp. 94-9G.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 123 
 
 contribute three hundred guineas. The members of the 
 noble and patriotic family of Buccleuch subscribed five 
 hundred pounds ; Alexander Wedderburn, then Solicitor 
 General of England, and afterward Lord Chancellor, gave 
 one hundred guineas to re-erect the school in which he had 
 been educated ; and like sums were sent by John Earl of 
 Hopetoun, and Sir Laurence Dundas, Bart., M.P. for 
 Edinburgh. We find from the magazines and newspapers 
 of the day, that the undertaking excited much interest, and 
 was liberally countenanced. Two thousand pounds were 
 thus raised ; but the building cost double that sum before it 
 was finished. A plan designed by Mr Alexander Laing, 
 architect, was adopted. 
 
 VIGNETTE View of the High School founded in 1777. 
 
 In April 1777 the committee of subscribers intimated to 
 the council that Mr Laing would proceed in two months 
 with the work ; and that they had " received from the 
 managers of the Royal Infirmary a piece of ground from 
 their garden for enlarging the present area, and had rea- 
 son to hope that the Incorporation of Surgeons would, for
 
 124 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the same purpose, yield them a small piece of ground from 
 their garden adjoining ; that, in order to place the new 
 school properly, it will be necessary to pull down the two 
 school rooms to the east of the rector's class ; the hall 
 under the other three might be divided into two for their 
 accommodation." l This request was readily complied with. 
 The old school 2 stood in a line due east and west, and in 
 the same parallel with the north gable of the new edifice, 
 which, as represented in last page, conformably to the 
 plan, consisted of two stories, measuring in length, north 
 and south, 120 feet, by 36 feet broad. In the lower story 
 was the great hall, designed not only for public occasions, 
 but also for the teachers meeting with their pupils every 
 morning for prayers. On the right and left of the hall 
 were two rooms, the one being for a library, the other -for 
 the use of the writing master. From the hall three dif- 
 ferent staircases, projecting from the back of the building, 
 led to the floor above, which was divided into five apart- 
 ments, that each class might be separately accommodated ; 
 the rector's class room occupied the centre. Such is a 
 general description of Mr Laing's design, which, as has 
 been said, he was chosen to carry into effect. 
 
 The foundation stone of the school was laid with due 
 solemnity, on the 24th of June 1777, by Sir William For- 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. xcv. pp. 94-97. Two pamphlets were published 
 on the subject of the building in 1775. The one from the subscribers' 
 School to the undertaking was entitled, " Proposals for a New Gram- 
 mar in Edinburgh ;" the other, written by a party hostile to the erection, 
 ' Considerations on the Proposals for Building a New Grammar School 
 in the City of Edinburgh; setting forth the inutility of such a scheme, 
 and the prejudice that may result therefrom to education. With a Pro- 
 posal for the Increase of Latin Schools, and some Observations on the 
 present mode of Teaching." 
 
 2 At p. 14, a view of the old school-house has been given. See 
 Kincaid's History of Edinburgh, pp. 187, 188; and Arnot's Hist, of 
 Edinb. 8vo. edition, p. 324, for a description of the edifice.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 325 
 
 bes, Bart., of Pitsligo, Grand Master Mason of Scotland. 1 
 We learn from the public prints of the time, that " all the 
 public bodies turned out on this auspicious day, and an in- 
 numerable crowd of spectators." The procession moved 
 from the Parliament Square in the following order : The 
 Lord Provost and magistrates in their robes ; the principal 
 and professors of the University in their gowns ; the rector 
 of the High School in his gown at the head of his class, the 
 scholars three and three, the smallest sized boys in front ; 
 the four masters in their gowns, each at the head of his 
 class, the scholars three and three; sixteen Masonic 
 Lodges, and many noblemen and gentlemen. 
 
 After proceeding down the High Street and Blackfriars' 
 Wynd,2 on arriving at the High School Yards, the com- 
 pany entered the area where the new school-house was to 
 be erected. The usual ceremonies having been gone 
 through, the Grand Master spoke as follows : 
 
 " My Lord Provost and gentlemen of the Magistracy, Reverend 
 Principal and Professors of the University of Edinburgh. In 
 the name of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and of the ancient 
 and honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, as well 
 as in my own, I beg leave to return our united thanks for the 
 honour this day done us by your presence at laying this founda- 
 tion-stone. May the city of Edinburgh continue to be blessed 
 with able and upright magistrates, ever watchful for the public 
 good ; and may this University, now so celebrated over the world, 
 be at all times equally happy in professors, whose learning and 
 abilities may not only preserve, but give an additional lustre to 
 that reputation which she has, through your means, so justly 
 acquired ! 
 
 " With the prosperity both of the city and the university, I 
 consider this work, now so happily begun, to be most intimately 
 
 1 See Scots Magazine, vol. xxxix. pp. 332-334 ; Ruddiman's Weekly 
 Magazine, the Edinburgh Evening Courant, and the Caledonian Mercury 
 of the period, for several additional particulars. 
 
 3 The South Bridge, across the Cowgate, was not erected till the year 
 1786.
 
 126 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 connected ; for, in this seminary of learning, the foundation is 
 laid of all useful knowledge, and there the minds of youth receive 
 impressions which often determine the fate of all their future 
 fortunes. As a citizen of Edinburgh, therefore, as well as a 
 member of that committee to whose care the conduct of this 
 building has been entrusted, I beg leave to express my own and 
 the committee's warmest acknowledgments, not only to you, my 
 Lord Provost, and the gentlemen here present, but to all those 
 persons of distinction, in both kingdoms, who have already so 
 generously contributed to the erecting of this school-house. After 
 having fortunately surmounted a variety of obstacles which un- 
 avoidably attend the commencement of every public plan, we re- 
 joice in the idea of seeing it now carried on with ardour, and with- 
 out interruption. As good citizens we are glad at the prospect 
 of not only promoting that most, important of all objects, the 
 public education of youth, but of adding somewhat to the gran- 
 deur of the city by a building which, though meant to be void of 
 all superfluous ornament, will, we trust, exhibit a decency of ap- 
 pearance well suited to the purpose it is intended to serve ; and, 
 as parents, we fondly flatter ourselves with the pleasing hope, 
 that our children, and our children's children, to the latest gener- 
 ation, will reap the benefit, and feel the happy effects of your 
 public-spirited and well-timed munificence. 
 
 " To you, Mr Rector, and to your colleagues of the High School, 
 I rejoice in this opportunity of publicly expressing the approba- 
 tion of every citizen, for the uncommon attention you have 
 hitherto bestowed on the education of the young gentlemen com- 
 mitted to your care. The high character which your school has 
 acquired, can receive no stronger testimony than from the num- 
 ber of scholars now present : and, I persuade myself, we have 
 this day exhibited a spectacle the most pleasing of all others to 
 the city ; for no sight can be more interesting to a community in 
 general, and to parents in particular, than the appearance of 
 so many comely boys as have walked in procession to attend our 
 solemnity. I cannot doubt that you will earnestly endeavour to 
 preserve the high reputation of this seminary of learning, by the 
 iitmost exertion of your zeal and assiduity ; that you will make 
 it subservient, not only to the acquiring of languages, which, 
 though the most obvious, is not the sole object of a grammar
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 127 
 
 school, but that you will be ever watchful to instil into the minds 
 of your youthful charge the true principles of virtue and religion, 
 that they may thereby be rendered worthy men, and valuable 
 members of society. 
 
 " To the Right Worshipful Masters, the Worshipful Wardens, 
 and all my worthy Brethren who have honoured me with so very 
 numerous and respectable an attendance in my public character 
 on this occasion, I beg leave to return my warmest thanks. It 
 shall ever be my pride and my pleasure to express my gratitude 
 by contributing all in my power to the honour and the interest of 
 that society, to the head of which your partiality has exalted me. 
 
 " As we are all equally interested in this important I may 
 even say national work, which we have now begun, permit me 
 earnestly to recommend to you all, my brethren, to exert your- 
 selves, as far as the influence of each individual may extend, in 
 procuring contributions towards carrying it on ; for, although the 
 sums already subscribed be indeed considerable, they are yet far 
 short of the money that will be required to bring it to a happy 
 conclusion." 
 
 Sir William Forbes, who delivered the above address, 
 was an eminent banker in Edinburgh, and was universally 
 respected and esteemed. In the prosperity of the religious, 
 benevolent, and literary institutions of the city he took a 
 lively and an active interest. The High School, in par- 
 ticular, received a large amount of the worthy baronet's 
 time and anxious consideration ; and besides his own per- 
 sonal services, which were cheerfully rendered, he was in- 
 strumental in getting his influential friends to patronise this 
 undertaking. In addition to those already noticed, Lord 
 Provost John Dalrymple, and Mr John Wauchope, Writer 
 to the Signet, deserve to be specified, as having conferred 
 no small benefit on the community by their zealous endea- 
 vours in the same good cause. 1 
 
 i On the 21st April 1779, the town-council agreed to pay L.200 in 
 aid of the building fund ; and on the 3d May 1780, at the suggestion of 
 Sir William Forbes, they " granted and disponed to the committee of the 
 subscribers for erecting a new school-house, the profits that may arise
 
 128 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In August 1780, Mr Edmund Butterworth was chosen 
 writing master. He was noted for the elegance of his pen- 
 manship, and for his success as a teacher. The office in 
 the High School to which Mr Butterworth was appointed 
 had been some time in abeyance, in consequence of Mr 
 MacLure, the former incumbent, having deserted his post. 
 The act of council electing him was now rescinded. Mac- 
 Lure was an eccentric person. He fought at the battle of 
 Falkirk in 1746, but in what military capacity he served 
 has not transpired. This, however, is known, that he was 
 captured by the rebels, and that on being searched by them, 
 there was discovered, to their great amusement, under his 
 waistcoat, a large paper label, bearing these words : , 
 " This is the body of John MacLure, writing master in 
 Edinburgh ; whoever finds the same is requested to give 
 it decent Christian burial." For more than thirty years he 
 survived the engagement, of the results of which, in so far 
 as he was personally concerned, he seems to have been 
 sensitively apprehensive. 1 
 
 We have arrived at that period in the history of the 
 High School when Sir Walter Scott was enrolled as one 
 of its pupils. 2 
 
 from a gratis play in the month of February 1781, 1782, 1783, and 1784j 
 to enable them to complete the school ; this is agreeable to the contract 
 entered into, dated 14th February 1768, between the council and David 
 lloss, Esq., late of Covent Garden, London, who obliged himself to give 
 annually the profits of a play, to be named yearly by the magistrate's, 
 after defraying the usual expense of the house." Council Record, vol. 
 xcix. pp. 44-49. 
 
 1 Private information. In the " Tales of a Grandfather," notice is 
 taken of this circumstance about MacLure. Sir Walter Scott's Work-. 
 royal 8vo. edition, vol. iv. p. 394, note 4. 
 
 3 As notices regarding the early instructors of Sir Walter Scott ought 
 to be preserved, we may here give a few particulars relative to Mr John 
 Leechman, who was his first public preceptor in English. "When "Walter 
 Scott attended him the school was in Hamilton's Entry, Bristo Street : 
 and this worthy teacher was so much esteemed by the poet's father, that 
 for many years he was a weekly guest of the family. On the 4th Jaini-
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 129 
 
 Sir Walter Scott, one of the many distinguished pupils of 
 this excellent seminary, thus adverts in his "Autobio- 
 graphy " to his connexion with this seminary : 
 
 "In 1779 I was sent to the second class of the grammar 
 school, or High School of Edinburgh, then taught by Mr Luke 
 Fraser, a good Latin scholar, and a very worthy man. Though 
 I had received, with my brothers, in private, lessons of Latin 
 from Mr James French, now a minister of the Kirk of Scotland, 
 I was nevertheless behind the class in which I was placed both 
 hi years and progress. This was a real disadvantage, and one 
 to which a boy of lively temper and talents ought to be as littl 
 exposed as one who might be less expected to make up his lee- 
 way, as it is called. The situation has the unfortunate effect of 
 reconciling a boy of the former character (which in a posthu- 
 mous work I may claim for my own), to holding a subordinate 
 station among his class-fellows, to which he would otherwise affix 
 disgrace. There is also, from the constitution of the High 
 School, a certain danger not sufficiently attended to. The boys 
 take precedence in then- places, as they are called, according to 
 then: merit, and it requires a long while, in general, before even 
 a clever boy, if he falls behind the class, or is put into one for 
 which he is not quite ready, can force his way to ttie situation 
 which his abilities really entitle him to hold. But, in the mean- 
 while, he is necessarily to be the associate and companion of 
 those inferior spirits with whom he is placed ; for the system of 
 precedence, though it does not limit the general intercourse 
 among the boys, has nevertheless the effect of throwing them 
 into clubs and coteries, according to the vicinity of the seats 
 they hold. A boy of good talents, therefore, placed, even for a 
 tune, among his inferiors, especially if they be also his elders, 
 learns to participate in their pursuits and objects of ambition, 
 
 ary 1792, Mr Leechman was appointed one of the four English masters 
 on the citv's establishment, and continued to hold that office with respec- 
 tability till his death, which happened September 9, 1811. He was a 
 public teacher in Edinburgh for more than forty years, and discharged 
 the important duties of his profession with propriety and success. Walter 
 Scott, on leaving Mr Leechman's school, was placed under the domestic 
 tutorage of Mr James French, who prepared him, as mentioned in th 
 text, to join Mr Luke Eraser's second class in October 1779. 
 
 I
 
 130 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 which are usually very distinct from the acquisition of learning ; 
 and it will be well if he does not also imitate them in that indif- 
 ference which is contented with bustling over a lesson, so as to 
 avoid punishment, without affecting superiority, or aiming at re- 
 ward. It was probably owing to this circumstance that, although 
 at a more advanced period of life I have enjoyed considerable fa- 
 cility in acquiring languages, I did not make any great figure at 
 the High School or, at least, any exertions which I made were 
 desultory and little to be depended on. 
 
 Our class contained some very excellent scholars. The first 
 dux was James Buchan, who retained his honoured place, almost 
 without a day's interval, all the while we were at the High 
 School. He was afterwards at the head of the medical staff in 
 Egypt, and in exposing himself to the plague infection, by attend- 
 ing the hospitals there, displayed the same well-regulated and 
 gentle, yet determined perseverance, which placed him most 
 worthily at the head of his school-fellows, while many lads of live- 
 lier parts and dispositions held an inferior station. The next 
 best scholars, sed longo intervallo, were my friend David Dou- 
 glas, the heir and el&ve of the celebrated Adam Smith, and James 
 Hope, 1 now a Writer to the Signet, both since well known and dis- 
 tinguished in their departments of the law. As for myself, I 
 glanced like a meteor from one end of the class to the other, 
 and commonly disgusted my kind master as much by negligence 
 and frivolity as I occasionally pleased him by flashes of intellect 
 and talent. Among my companions, my good-nature, and a 
 flow of ready imagination, rendered me very popular. Boys are 
 uncommonly just in their feelings, and at least equally generous. 
 I was also, though often negligent of my own task, always ready 
 to assist my friends, and hence I had a little party of staunch parti- 
 zans and adherents, stout of hand and heart, though somewhat 
 dull of head, the very tools for raising a hero to eminence. So, on 
 the whole, I made a brighter figure in the yards than in the class. 
 
 After having been three years under Mr Fraser, our class 
 was, in the usual routine of the school, turned over to Dr 
 Adam, the Rector. It was from this respectable man that I 
 first learned the value of the knowledge I had hitherto considered 
 only as a burdensome task. It was the fashion to remain two 
 ' James Hope, Esq., W.S., died November 14, 1842.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 131 
 
 years at his class, where we read Caesar, and Livy, and Sallust 
 in prose, Virgil, Horace, and Terence, in verse. I had by this 
 time mastered, in some degree, the difficulties of the language, 
 and began to be sensible of its beauties. This was really gather- 
 ing grapes from thistles ; nor shall I soon forget the swelling of 
 ray little pride when the Rector pronounced, that though many 
 of my school-fellows understood the Latin better, Gualterus 
 Scott was behind few in following and enjoying the author's mean- 
 ing. Thus encouraged, I distinguished myself by some attempts 
 at poetical versions from Horace and Virgil. Dr Adam used 
 to invite his scholars to such essays, but never made them tasks. 
 I gained some distinction upon these occasions, and the Rector 
 in future took much notice of me, and his judicious mixture of 
 censure and praise went far to counterbalance my habits of indo- 
 lence and inattention. I saw I was expected to do well, and I 
 was piqued in honour to vindicate my master's favourable opi- 
 nion. I climbed, therefore, to the first form ; and, though I 
 never made a first-rate Latinist, my school-fellows, and what was 
 of more consequence, I myself, considered that I had a character 
 for learning to maintain. Dr Adam, to whom I owed so much, 
 never failed to remind me of my obligations when I had made 
 some figure in the literary world. 1 
 
 Among the papers of the late Dr Adam, we were much 
 gratified in discovering several prosaic translations from the 
 classics, and two metrical school exercises of Sir Walter 
 Scott. Though the verses have already been printed in the 
 Life of the Poet, & facsimile of one of the pieces has now, for 
 the first time, been executed as an appropriate ornament to 
 this volume. The lines in question, written by the Author 
 of " Waverley " in July 1783, when in his twelfth year, will 
 doubtless be regarded as a valuable and curious memorial 
 of that distinguished individual. The piece is entitled 
 
 " ON THE SETTING SUN. 
 * Those evening clouds, that setting ray 
 And beauteous tints, serve to display 
 
 1 Lockhart's Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, 2d edition, vol. 
 L pp. 37-44.
 
 132 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Their great Creator's praise ; 
 Then let the short-lived thing call'd man, 
 Whose life's comprised within a span, 
 To him his homage raise. 
 
 We often praise the evening clouds, 
 And tints so gay and bold, 
 But seldom think upon our God 
 Who tinged these clouds with gold!" 
 
 It may be noticed in passing, that not a few similar 
 youthful essays, chiefly translations from the Latin classics, 
 in prose and verse, by other eminent pupils still alive, are 
 deposited in the High School Library. We have not felt 
 at liberty, however, to publish any of those interesting 
 memorials of the juvenile efforts of those who were prose- 
 cuting their classical studies under Dr Adam sixty or 
 seventy years ago. Exercises by Charles Hope, Henry 
 Brougham, Mountstuart Elphinstone, James Buchan, and 
 others, have also been preserved. The individuals just 
 named, as also Francis Jeffrey and Henry Cockburn, seem 
 to have made frequent use of the library attached to the 
 High School. In the MS. catalogue the signature of the 
 reader is inscribed at each entry. We confess we were 
 not a little gratified in looking at the hand-writing, in boy- 
 hood, of many who have since signalized themselves, and in 
 inspecting the lists of the works with which they then occu- 
 pied their leisure hours. For example, by the catalogue 
 it appears, that Sir Walter Scott then perused Langhorne's 
 Plutarch, Robertson's History of Scotland, Goldsmith's 
 Greece and Goldsmith's England, the World Displayed, 
 the Annual Register, Sully's Memoirs, and all the Voy- 
 ages and Travels of which the library could at that time 
 boast. 
 
 The mode of conducting the rector's class about this 
 period was, we have been told, nearly as follows : The 
 construing of the lesson given out the day before was per-
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 133 
 
 formed by the boys at the head of the class, and questions 
 were put on the construction, parsing, history, and anti- 
 quities. After the lesson had been translated twice or three 
 times by the boys of the first form, the business of translating 
 was continued during the remainder of the hour, generally 
 by going down the class regularly, and occasionally by ask- 
 ing if any one near the bottom of the class would undertake 
 to translate, and so rise to the level of the next who was found 
 prepared. Thus, after the first half hour, the rest of the time 
 was spent in a repetition of the same thing. Every Friday 
 an exercise was written by the boys in the low schoolroom, 
 always from English prose, dictated by the rector. 
 
 Exercises were likewise prescribed to be done at home, 
 consisting of translations from the classic read, or a portion 
 of Mair's Introduction ; while translations from Virgil into 
 English verse were also encouraged and shown up. These 
 exercises were generally corrected in the class by the mas- 
 ter. Passages from Dr Adam's Grammar, to be com- 
 mitted to memory, were given out and questioned upon ; 
 and the same plan was adopted pretty rigorously with his 
 Roman Antiquities. These exercises and examinations, 
 with a little sprinkling of anecdote, made up the business 
 of the Latin class. Geography, ancient and modern, was 
 not forgotten. The pupils did not, at this period, from a 
 cause already sufficiently explained, make very great pro- 
 gress in the Greek language in the public class. 
 
 David, Earl of Buchan, the zealous founder of the 
 Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, has published his 
 opinion of the seminary, in a letter to his distinguished 
 brother, who afterwards became Lord Chancellor of Eng- 
 land. 1 " I have," says his Lordship, " visited the school 
 frequently, not only on public days, when the boys are 
 
 1 It has been stated in more publications than one, that Lord Chan- 
 cellor Erskine received the elements of his classical learning in the High 
 School of Edinburgh; that honour, I suspect, belongs to the Grammar
 
 134 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 always prepared to make their best appearances, but 
 on other days, when I was not expected, and have al- 
 ways come away with the highest satisfaction." In the 
 spring of 1782, this nobleman paid a more formal visit, 
 and in the Great Hall of the School harangued the teachers 
 and the assembled scholars. He addressed the pupils as 
 follows : 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, It gives me great satisfaction to observe 
 the progress you have made in classical erudition, useful 
 knowledge, and regular manners, under the tuition of your 
 excellent preceptors. I entreat you, that when you leave 
 these schools, and the colleges which are to follow them, 
 you will not allow your attachment to the classics or your 
 thirst for knowledge to abate, by mixing too much in the 
 fashionable follies, dissipation, or slothfulness of the age. 
 Cultivate manly exercises, and learned occupations ; retain 
 manly sentiments, and never be ashamed of being thought 
 singularly good, or rigidly virtuous. 
 
 " The eyes of philosophers and patriots are upon you, 
 and I am anxious in the expectation, that in you the desires 
 of my heart, the vows of your parents and guardians, and 
 the hopes of your native country, will not be disappointed. 
 
 " You form a respectable part of the rising generation, 
 from the form and colour of which the ruin or salvation 
 of your country is to arise. It is needless for me therefore 
 to add more." 1 
 
 To his Lordship's speech Dr Adam made a suitable reply 
 in the Latin language. 
 
 School of St Andrews, when under the able rectorship of Mr Halket, a 
 noted disciplinarian. 
 
 i ' Letter from the Earl of Buchan to his Brother, the Hon. Thomas 
 Erskine, Counsellor at Law, on the subject of Education ; accompany- 
 ing a Latin Address to the Rector of the High School of Edinburgh, and 
 one in English to the boys in the highest class of that School.' Edinb. 
 1782, 8vo. This pamphlet was liberally circulated by his Lordship 
 among those who had heard the addresses which it contains.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 135 
 
 In the month of June 1786, Mr James French, a person 
 of great worth, and a successful teacher, intimated his in- 
 tention, by reason of growing bodily debility, of with- 
 drawing from the school at the close of the session. The 
 town- council set a great value on his services, and besides 
 passing a unanimous vote of thanks to him, they agreed to 
 allow him to retain his salary, with ten pounds additional. 1 
 Mr Alexander Christison, rector of the grammar school of 
 Dalkeith, was chosen to fill the mastership which Mr 
 French had resigned, but was to receive no salary from 
 the city during the life of his predecessor. Mr Christison 's 
 character stood high in public estimation. He had been an 
 indefatigable student ; and, though possessed of no original 
 advantages of birth or fortune, gradually raised himself to 
 eminence and respectability. 2 
 
 The valuable writings of the rector, which may be re- 
 garded as running commentaries on the classics usually 
 read at public schools, greatly contributed to bring the 
 High School into a very favourable point of view in Eng- 
 land. As soon as Dr Adam published his " Roman An- 
 tiquities," his reputation as a scholar of great erudition 
 spread far and wide. As a specimen of his epistolary 
 intercourse with distinguished scholars in the south, we 
 give his correspondence with Dean Vincent, 3 the learned 
 head-master of Westminster School. The Dean thus writes 
 to Dr Adam : 
 
 " SIR, I have examined your 'Roman Antiquities' with 
 great attention, and am so well pleased with them that I 
 
 1 See APPENDIX, p. 92. Mr Robert Chambers, in his Traditions of 
 Edinburgh, has given an account of the anniversary meetings of Mr 
 French's scholars. 
 
 2 APPENDIX, p. 96. 
 
 3 Dr Vincent was regarded as one of the soundest scholars in Europe, 
 an admirable critic, and a most accomplished geographer. See his valu- 
 able " History of the Commerce, Navigation, and Discoveries of the 
 Ancients, in the Indian Ocean. 2 vols. 4to.
 
 136 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 shall introduce them to iny boys. I had myself ordered one of 
 our assistants to translate Cellarius, and add somewhat from 
 Vastel's edition of it, meaning it for a cheap school-book; 
 but I shall certainly not print it at present, for though yours 
 is a large price for a school-boy, I am sensible there is a 
 great deal of letter-press in it. I think when you publish it 
 again our London booksellers would make it a neater book, 
 but perhaps you rather chuse it to be in as cheap a form as 
 may be. 
 
 " I receive Murray and Belches from your hands at this meet- 
 ing of the school ; and though they are both in the same class, 
 I can place Murrey a year higher, from his having been taught 
 Greek by private tuition. I know how next to impossible it is 
 to make any alteration in modes; but if the High School 
 could admit of beginning Greek earlier, it would be of great 
 service to such as may hereafter be sent up to (Westminster. 
 We have had many of late years, and I always receive them 
 with pleasure, as they are very well taught, and seem always 
 to have been brought up much better domestically than 
 the generality of our countrymen ; and good examples at 
 home are the best security for good morals in a public edu- 
 cation. 
 
 " I particularly approve of your giving the Latin phrase to 
 each particular in your Antiquities: it must be one of the 
 best instructions for Latinity if we can make the boys use 
 their eyes. Believe me, with great esteem, your most humble 
 servant, 
 
 " Dean's Yard, " W. VINCENT. 
 
 June 22, 1791." 
 
 About seven years afterwards Dr Adam was favoured 
 with the subjoined letter from Dr Vincent : 
 
 " DEAR SIR, My ' Nearchus ' sailed last Tuesday. When he 
 may reach Edinburgh I cannot say, but if you will enquire for 
 him and examine the course he has pursued, I shall esteem it a 
 particular kindness ; as a good word from you, if he deserves it, 
 will go far to give him a favourable reception among your coun- 
 trymen.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 137 
 
 " Mr Doig's l correspondence and mine has been of the most 
 friendly and liberal kind ; and I cannot help venerating a man 
 of fourscore, who talks not only of answering me, but of publish- 
 ing the history of the Greek language from its birth to its burial. 
 I have taken some pains to convince him that our opinions are 
 not so opposite as he conceives, and I believe, by a second letter 
 from him, he is partly convinced ; so that I have no doubt his 
 public attack will be as liberal as his private correspondence. 
 For the credit of Greek literature in this country, I will inform 
 you that 750 copies of my two pamphlets have been sold. I 
 published only 250 of the last, thinking that the discussion of 
 such a subject would not find purchasers, but they are sold al- 
 most to the dregs. 
 
 " I congratulate you on the success of your ' Geography,' which 
 I foretold, and I see a new edition going on. May all your la- 
 bours prosper ! I cannot yet judge of mine, but if you will or 
 can speak kindly of them, I shall have a better opinion of them 
 myself. Believe me, your most faithful and obedient humble 
 servant, 
 
 " Dean's Yard, " W. VINCENT. 
 
 Feb. 6, 1797." 
 
 The rector replied, on the 18th of April, to the head- 
 master of Westminster School ; and from his answer we give 
 the following extracts, as showing the estimation in which he 
 held Dr Vincent's services to classical literature, and as illus- 
 trative too of his own habits while engaged in teaching : 
 
 " After perusing your ' Nearchus ' I gave it to a friend who is 
 an excellent classical scholar and a good judge. His opinion of it 
 coincides with my own, that it does you great honour. He was 
 particularly pleased with your account of the mouths of the 
 Euphrates. 
 
 i David Doig, LL.D., was forty years Rector of the Grammar School 
 of Stirling, where he died March 15, 1800, at the age of eighty-two. 
 Dr Doig wrote a profound treatise on the ancient Hellenes, which is 
 printed in the 3d vol. of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edin- 
 burgh ; and a work entitled, ' Letters on the Savage State.' We must 
 not omit to mention his learned articles, ' Mythology,' ' Mysteries,' 
 ' Philology,' in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
 
 138 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " Upon inquiring at the shop of Mr Creech, our chief book- 
 seller, the other day, I was informed that all the copies they had 
 received were disposed of. What I used the freedom of writing 
 to you reflected on the public taste regarding literary produc- 
 tions, but without detracting in the least from the merit of your 
 work, which I am sure every candid judge will allow to be very 
 great. Still, however, especially in this country, the number of 
 those interested in such disquisitions is comparatively small. 
 I have read over your description of the battle of Issus in the 
 British Critic (a considerable number of which come to Edin- 
 burgh), and I discover in it the same ingenuity and extent of 
 knowledge as in many parts of ' Nearchus.' But you go far beyond 
 the sphere of ordinary enquiry, and indeed of ordinary under- 
 standing. I judge of others from myself: your researches display 
 a depth of erudition which few possess, and of which the many 
 are not competent to judge. But I think it would be a pity the 
 world should be deprived of the light which your dissertation must 
 throw upon so important a branch of knowledge as the history 
 of Alexander. Considering your public engagements, and the 
 many avocations to which you must be exposed, I am surprised 
 you have found time to do so much, and I am sorry to find you 
 mention health as a reason for not finishing your plan, especially as 
 I understand by your friend Mr Dubarry, that your leisure time is 
 devoted to study to the neglect of exercise. In point of age, I am 
 only a few years behind you ; but every good day I contrive to find 
 time for exercise, and in school I endeavour to be as much on foot 
 and in action as possible. From the good effects of this plan I beg 
 leave earnestly to recommend it to you. After labouring long, 
 and doing so much for the public, you are entitled to that otium 
 cwm dignitate which some of your predecessors enjoy. As for 
 me, those of my profession in this country are entirely excluded 
 from such a prospect, and happily I have not a wish but that I 
 may be able to do my duty in my present station while I live. I 
 do not mean, however, to apply so closely in private as I have 
 done, and indeed I begin to feel I am not able. About two 
 years ago I was like to feel serious effects from excessive study. 
 This makes me use the freedom of exhorting you to moderate 
 your exertions ; and if you choose to remain in your present im- 
 portant station, as I believe Dr Busby did to the last, to make
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 139 
 
 your literary pursuits rather a relaxation than a toil. You 
 can finish your dissertations at leisure. The present ferment 
 about public affairs, I hope, will soon subside, when more atten- 
 tion will be paid to such useful investigations. But what I wish 
 chiefly to suggest, and it is a thing which I know you can easily 
 execute, is to make a popular book of the whole, by giving a 
 short, but interesting sketch of the whole history of Alexander, 
 and subjoining to it, by way of appendix, a brief account of the 
 voyage of Nearchus, or perhaps a free translation of Arrian, 
 with short explanatory notes, with references to your large work 
 on that subject, and to your dissertation. This I am persuaded 
 would be a work of utility to young and old, and would not fail 
 to engage general attention. You see what liberty I take with 
 you. I seldom write so long epistles. I wish at least to show 
 you how highly I value your favour." 
 
 At a meeting of the Corporation on the 6th of August 
 1794, the chamberlain announced that " he had received 
 from Lieutenant Colonel Peter Murray, adjutant-general 
 of the army in Bengal, in the service of the Honourable 
 East India Company, one hundred guineas, on condition of 
 the Lord Provost, magistrates, and council of the city of 
 Edinburgh, giving an annual premium or medal of the 
 value of five pounds to the best scholar at the High School 
 of Edinburgh, at which the Colonel was educated, or 
 dividing it by a medal of three guineas value to the best, 
 and of two guineas to the second scholar in the said school, 
 or in any other manner Colonel Murray may appoint dur- 
 ing any time of his life. Which being considered they 
 agreed to accept of the money, and to bind and oblige them, 
 and their successors in office, for themselves, and in behalf 
 of the community, to deliver yearly a medal or medals of 
 the value of five guineas to the best, or two of the scholars 
 at the High School, or in any other manner which Colonel 
 Murray may appoint during any time of his life ; and in 
 case of no such opportunity, to be disposed of for the above 
 purpose as the council shall direct, the gainers to be deter-
 
 140 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 mined by the masters and examinators to be appointed by 
 the council for the time being, and authorized the cham- 
 berlain to grant a receipt and obligation for the money in 
 terms of this act : Resolved that the thanks of the council 
 be given to Colonel Murray for his gratuity, and resolved 
 that a medal of five guineas value be given to the best 
 scholar at the High School upon the eleventh instant, im- 
 mediately after the public examination, and authorized 
 the treasurer to provide a medal, and the chamberlain to 
 pay the five guineas." l 
 
 The following particulars respecting this public-spirited 
 person, the first who endowed a medal in the High School, 
 will, we are persuaded, not be unacceptable. Peter 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. cxxiii. pp. 79-81. The vignette represents the 
 Macgregor, formerly the Murray, gold medal. On the reverse are the 
 city arms in bold relief. The dux's name for the year is inscribed in 
 the upper blank space, whilst the date is engraved on the lower.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 141 
 
 Murray, the name by which he was known in Mr Gil- 
 christ's class, was the son of Evan Macgregor of Glencair- 
 noch. His grandfather, John Macgregor, who had five 
 sons, owing to the proscription of the surname of Macgregor, 
 took that of Murray, under the auspices and at the friendly 
 request indeed of the then Duke of Atholl. Evan, father 
 of the subject of this sketch, was major in the Pretender's 
 army in 1745, and aide-de-camp to the prince; whilst his 
 eldest brother Eobert commanded the Macgregor regiment 
 in that rebellion. Subsequently, in virtue of the liberal 
 policy of the great Earl of Chatham, in favour of such gal- 
 lant, but unfortunate individuals as had embarked in the 
 cause of the House of Stuart, and enjoyed originally the 
 rank of gentlemen, he became an officer in the 88th foot 
 and served in Germany with distinction. He had four 
 sons, namely, Sir John Macgregor Murray, Baronet, Colo- 
 nel Alexander Murray Macgregor of the Honourable East 
 India Company's Service, Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Mur- 
 ray (the founder of the medal), and Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Robert Murray Macgregor. 
 
 Peter Murray, whose true name has thus been shown, 
 and adopted one accounted for, after leaving the High 
 School studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh 
 and in London. Preferring the army, however, in 1770 he 
 followed his eldest brother to India, and found military 
 appointment. He filled successively the staff situations of 
 aide-de-camp and brigade-major. In the second Rohilla 
 war, he acted as adjutant-general under Sir Ralph Aber- 
 cromby. No individual in British India was ever more 
 respected and beloved, and such, indeed, was his personal 
 influence, that during a ferment, occasioned by the tardiness 
 of promotion amongst the officers of the Indian army, he 
 was of the most essential service in allaying it. He came 
 home along with his brother John in 1790. It hence ap- 
 pears, that it was during his absence from Britain, amid
 
 142 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 the din of arms, and the discharge of arduous duties, that 
 he recollected with kindly emotions the High School of 
 Edinburgh, in which his mind had received its first develop- 
 ment. Having spent a short time in his native land, he 
 returned to India ; but being disappointed of the staff situ- 
 ation, which he had long filled with the entire approbation 
 of several commanders in chief, he resolved on quitting the 
 Company's service. He accordingly sailed with his lady for 
 England ; which, however, it was not his fortune to reach. 
 The vessel fell in, on the Irish coast, with a French ship 
 of war ; and, after an obstinate defence, was captured in 
 August 1803. Colonel Murray, who had gone on deck, 
 sword in hand, at the commencement of the action, fell 
 bravely fighting. The ship was retaken and brought into 
 an English port. The subject of this notice did not resume 
 his true surname Macgregor, although he intended doing 
 so on finally settling in his native country. The penal 
 laws against the clan had not been repealed till after his 
 first going to India. Nor, indeed, is it convenient for any 
 one, whilst engaged in public business, to alter his signa- 
 ture. Of his attachment to that surname, of which, as of 
 human nature, he was an ornament, the Colonel has left a 
 substantial proof in a bequest of L.I 5 00 sterling, the inter- 
 est of which he ordered to be applied to the benefit of the 
 Clan Grregor, He left no issue by marriage. 1 
 
 We refer the reader to our Appendix, where a Chrono- 
 logical List is given of those who have annually gained the 
 Murray or Macgregor medal from 1794 to the present time. 2 
 
 1 In 1831 the magistrates complied with a request from Sir Evan 
 Macgregor, nephew of Col. Murray, and changed the inscription on the 
 School Medal from 'Premium Muravianum' to 'Premium Macgregori- 
 anum.' (Council Record, vol. ccx. p. 2-4.) The ' Caledonian Mercury ' 
 for the 6th August of the last mentioned year, contains an authentic 
 memoir of the founder of the medal; and to that paper we are princi- 
 pally indebted for the biographical sketch given above. 
 
 2 APPENDIX, pp. 133-142.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 143 
 
 A strong incentive to sustained industry and generous 
 rivalry to excel, is held out to boys in the rector's class. 
 But it is not the Macgregor gold medal alone, and the 
 honourable and enviable distinction which it unquestion- 
 ably confers, that the dux immediately enjoys. Should he 
 wish to prosecute his studies for one of the learned profes- 
 sions, and require assistance, the Governors of George 
 Heriot's Hospital present him to one of the exhibitions or 
 bursaries at their disposal. This bursary, of the annual 
 value of L.20, is tenable for four consecutive years, during 
 the student's attendance on the literary classes in the Uni- 
 versity of Edinburgh. 1 And here we may be permitted 
 to say, that he who eminently distinguishes himself at 
 any of our great schools does well to remember at once 
 for his encouragement and warning, that the public eye is 
 upon him, and that he is a subject of interest far beyond 
 the circle of his immediate connexions. The success which 
 is usually seen to follow indefatigable application and hon- 
 ourable bearing, has a happy effect on the minds of those 
 
 1 There are also some other smaller endowments for the benefit of 
 High School pupils. We have adverted (see p. 63) to the Bursaries 
 instituted by Dr Robert Johnstone in 1639 for the encouragement of 
 boys attending the High School. The Rev. John Penman, minister of 
 Bothkennar, Stirlingshire, also bequeathed mdney for the same purpose. 
 Mr Penman, who died July 15, 1765, left L.387 : 15 : 6, which sum his 
 representatives placed in the hands of the Town-Council of Edinburgh. 
 This money bears interest at four and a half per cent, since 25th No- 
 vember 1823, agreeably to the city's bond in favour of Walter Little 
 Gilmonr, Esq. of Liberton and Craigmiliar, as nominee of the mortifi- 
 cation, and of his heirs, whom failing, the Moderator of the Presbytery 
 of Edinburgh for the time being, and his successors hi office ; all which 
 are particularly detailed in the minutes of the Corporation, under date 
 December 3, 1823. The annual interest is L.17, 9s., and falls to be dis- 
 posed of thus : To a divinity student L.8, to a student in philosophy 
 L.5, 8s., towards the expense of educating them at the University of 
 Edinburgh ; and the sums of L.2, 5s., and L.I, 16s. to two scholars at 
 the High School of Edinburgh. These bursaries are tenable for four 
 years.
 
 144 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 who enter the same arena to contend for the palm of victory. 
 Let the High School pupil look at those names which are 
 inscribed on the tablets that adorn the walls of the school ; 
 let him examine the list of eminent scholars at the end of this 
 volume a list which it were easy to enlarge and will he 
 not, with redoubled ardour, exert himself to have his own 
 name so honourably recorded, and strive to emulate the 
 excellencies, moral, religious, and intellectual, of those 
 great and good men, who have shed a lustre, not on the 
 High School alone, but on their native land ? 
 
 Mr William Cruickshank, one of the masters, died in 
 the month of March 1795. He was regarded as a person 
 of no mean acquirements ; and his success as a teacher 
 was mentioned with commendation in the public journals, 
 when speaking of the loss which his death occasioned to 
 the community. Mr James Cririe, rector of the High 
 School of Leith, became the successor of Mr Cruickshank. 1 
 
 Mr William Nicol, whose classical attainments none 
 could dispute, but whose irascible temper often involved 
 him in quarrels, had more than once incurred the marked 
 displeasure of the town-council. He had manifested not a 
 little hostility to Dr Adam in particular, and had even 
 publicly attacked the worthy rector in so unjustifiable a 
 manner, that the corporation found it requisite to inter- 
 fere. It is unnecessary, however, to refer more to these 
 unpleasant occurrences. At a public examination of the 
 High School, Mr Nicol, " in the presence of the magis- 
 trates, and afterwards by public advertisements, announced 
 that he was to open a class for private teaching, the 
 object of which, Dr Adam alleged, was to deprive him 
 of his new class, and by this means secure two classes 
 to himself. The council resolve, that if Mr Ritchie con- 
 tinue his private school, which he took up after the 
 
 1 See APPENDIX, p. 100,
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 145 
 
 last examination, apparently with the view of hurting 
 the rector's class, after the 1st of April next, he shall 
 be dismissed from his office." 1 In consequence of what 
 had taken place, Mr Nicol 2 deemed it advisable to resign 
 his mastership in the High School. He was very un- 
 popular among the boys, by his frequent use of the lash. 
 His pupils generally made an excellent appearance in the 
 rector's class ; and many of them, in after life, have been 
 noted for their elegant scholarship. 3 Mr William Ritchie, 
 of the Canongate Grammar School, was appointed to suc- 
 ceed Mr Nicol in August 1 795. Before being placed at the 
 head of the Canongate seminary, he had been a successful 
 teacher in the county of Perth, of which he was a native. 4 
 
 In the last mentioned month, Mr George Paton, writing 
 master, and the father of the well known vocalists, ceased 
 to have any connexion with the High School. In conse- 
 quence of this three individuals, namely, Messrs Dugald 
 and Allan Masterton, and Dugald Masterton, junior, were 
 appointed joint writing masters. The parties now named 
 were on terms of great intimacy with Robert Burns ; and 
 Allan Masterton, in particular, has been described by the 
 poet as " one of the worthiest men in the world, and a 
 man of real genius." 
 
 About the close of 1797 Dr Adam, in compliance with 
 
 1 Council Record (March 18, 1795), vol. cxxiij. pp. 359-370. 
 
 J The name of Mr Ritchie was, in the preceding page, third line from 
 the bottom, substituted for that of Mr Nicol ; and the mistake was not 
 observed till the sheet had been thrown off. 
 
 3 See APPENDIX, pp. 94-96 ; Currie's Life,&c., of Robert Burns, and 
 Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 * Perthshire can boast of several ancient and distinguished schools. 
 Notice has already been taken of those in the county town. The royal 
 grammar school of Dunkeld may here be mentioned. It was erected 
 by King James the Sixth, February 2, 1567, with the consent of James 
 Earl of Murray. By the original deed, John Earl of Atholl, and his 
 successors, were appointed hereditary patrons. (Litera Fundationis 
 Scholse Grammat. Dunkeld. Register of Presentations to Benefices.) 
 
 K
 
 146 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the request of Mr Andrew Dun 1 of Aberdeen, freely and 
 fully communicated his experience and sentiments regard- 
 ing the economy of schools. From Dr Adam's corres- 
 pondence with his professional brother we give what fol- 
 lows, which has not previously been printed : 
 
 " The number of classes in our school is five, and there 
 are four masters besides myself. Each of the masters be- 
 gins a rudimentary class every fourth year, and continues 
 to teach the same class for four years : then their boys 
 come to my class. The greater part remain with me two 
 years ; and a few sometimes three sessions ; but many stay 
 only one year. There is no certain rule, the whole de- 
 pends on the discretion of the parents. Very often the 
 worst scholars go to college, while the best remain with 
 me. The Writers to the Signet have made a strange re- 
 gulation, which determines numbers, that no one can be 
 admitted to their society who has not attended some univer- 
 sity at least two years. It matters not what progress they 
 have made that is no subject of inquiry. 
 
 " The number of boys attending each of the classes de- 
 pends on the character of the Master, and sometimes on 
 other circumstances. The number of most of the inferior 
 classes at present is from 70 to 90 I have above a hun- 
 dred. These are composed of the boys who formed the 
 fourth class last year, of those who attend me for a second 
 year, and of such as have come from different schools 
 some from England and other parts. They all form but 
 one class, and so far read the same lesson. But then I 
 manage matters so that the best scholars have sufficient 
 employment, and no more is exacted from the lowest than 
 they are able to learn. Though I have nominally but one 
 class, I am obliged in fact to teach several, and have to 
 accommodate myself to them ail from the highest to the 
 
 1 Mr Andrew Dun, Rector of the Grammar School of Aberdeen, who 
 died February 20, 1803.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 1 17 
 
 lowest. The method which I follow, and my predecessors 
 followed, of teaching boys of different progress in the 
 same class, is this, I always read different books this 
 year, from what were read in the preceding session, so 
 that a boy must remain two years at the class to go 
 through the course. Besides, at a separate hour, I teach 
 the better scholars the principles of Greek and Geography, 
 in which the rest do not join. 
 
 " I cannot easily give you an idea, in writing, of the 
 various methods I use. The whole class goes on in a set 
 lesson or lessons every day. The higher boys explain to 
 the lowest that part of an author which the whole class is 
 required to say with great accuracy next day. Sometimes 
 the higher boys, or all that can, prepare by themselves at 
 home a part of a different author, or a different part of the 
 same author ; and such as are not able to do so hear the 
 higher boys explain it. But I take care to make all at- 
 tend, by asking questions every now and then. 
 
 " To explain this method by an example. Last summer 
 we read Livy for great part of the day. The set lesson 
 seldom exceeded half a chapter. This half chapter I went 
 through with the whole class very minutely ; and you 
 know when boys have been four years at Latin, they may 
 be, in certain things, joined with the most advanced in a 
 school. All those that were able to say the prescribed 
 lesson, whom I could soon distinguish, I set by themselves 
 to prepare two or three chapters in a different book of Livy ; 
 while they were doing so, but with very little noise, so 
 as not to disturb me, I was going on impressing the set 
 task on the inferior part of the class. 
 
 " When I perceived the upper boys, or such as could, had 
 read over their task, and they always fixed the quantity 
 themselves, I gave them permission, while the whole class 
 was silent, to ask me any phrase or difficulty they chose. 
 At next meeting, all that could say this separate task were
 
 148 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 dismissed nearly an hour before the rest. Again, such as 
 could repeat the separate task the best scholars had said 
 before were dismissed also. Then I laboured with the rest 
 to bring them on in what things they were most deficient. 
 In consequence of this the progress of all was very con- 
 siderable, so that at the examination, instead of trying the 
 class, as is usual, on the things they had read, I desired 
 one of the gentlemen present to turn up a passage in a book 
 which none of the class had read before ; and after allowing 
 the boys to look it over a little while by themselves, I an- 
 nounced that I should proceed with that exercise, as long 
 as a boy could be found, in going down from the top of 
 the class, that could join in it. 
 
 Accordingly, the whole time allowed for the examination, 
 about three hours, was spent in this manner ; and about 
 nine or ten chapters were explained. I have always had 
 a few that could easily do this. 
 
 Besides the fixed school hours, I devote a separate hour 
 for teaching Geography and the elements of Greek ; for 
 which those who attend pay a separate fee. There is no- 
 thing in the plan of education in this country more absurd 
 than sending boys too early to college. They should never 
 be taken from school and sent to a university till they can 
 at least read plain Latin authors by themselves, and under- 
 stand the principles of Greek. The contrary practice is 
 hurtful, not only to learning, but also to morals ; and if the 
 conductors of education in college did their duty, they 
 would take care that no one should be admitted unless pro- 
 perly qualified, as is the case in a neighbouring country, 
 where a certain number of books is specified, both in Latin 
 and in Greek, which a young man must be prepared to 
 read in any part that is turned up, before he can be ad- 
 mitted as a student at the university. But as it is hardly 
 to be expected that any corporation will assent to encour- 
 age a plan which might have the least tendency to diminish
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 149 
 
 the emoluments of its members, I think the most effectual 
 method of inducing parents to extend the term of school 
 education, would be to connect with the study of Latin, such 
 branches of knowledge as are requisite to make boys un- 
 derstand what they read. During the first years, the study 
 of English should be joined with that of Latin ; and after- 
 wards Geography, Mythology, Antiquities, and History, 
 together with the principles of Natural Philosophy ; and 
 for such as choose it, the French language. In all these 
 branches, besides Writing and Accounts, a boy should be 
 initiated and tolerably instructed before going to college. 
 Now, if this could be effected, he would be an ignorant 
 parent indeed that did not see the importance of such 
 accomplishments, and that they cannot be acquired in the 
 small space of a grammar school education, especially at so 
 early a period of life. To be sure, when corporate bodies 
 counteract such a plan by positive regulations, as the 
 Writers to the Signet have done, nothing further can be 
 said. When, as I have often told some of that society, boys 
 know that they will not only be admitted to college, but ad- 
 mitted also as members of a respectable society, whatever 
 be their progress, it not only slackens their energy, but 
 leads them to consider their whole education a sham, and 
 thus prepares them for deception from their earliest years. 
 I wish other societies were not nearly as lax and remiss 
 in similar instances. 
 
 " For magistrates to impose or give absurd regulations 
 how you are to conduct the education of your boys, I 
 should think it rather stepping beyond their sphere. Their 
 intervention ought to go no further than advice and sup- 
 port. I have at different times experienced the hurtful 
 effects of such interference ; and it is a curious fact, that 
 it was chiefly owing to the unjust attempts of the magis- 
 trates to restrict, or rather to oppress me, that I was led 
 to compile the ' Roman Antiquities' in their present form.
 
 150 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " In winter we have no play days whatever in the after- 
 noon, except Saturday ; and in summer only on Wednes- 
 day and Saturday, and even that, in general, only to such 
 boys as have been attentive through the week. However, 
 as to this, the masters do as they please. During the whole 
 of last summer I do not recollect having ever allowed my- 
 self a single holiday. 
 
 " We have no vacation except at the sacramental occa- 
 sions, and in autumn, when our vacation lasts six weeks ; 
 at which time the magistrates, some years ago, added a 
 week to the former space of five weeks, contrary to my 
 opinion. The boys are surely much the worse for long 
 vacations. It is very improper that boys should be allow- 
 ed to be absent from any ordinary meetings of the school ; 
 but if parents will keep their children away for dancing, 
 or any other purpose they choose, I do not see that it be- 
 longs to magistrates to require that you should punish boys 
 on that account. I suppose magistrates have no control 
 over parents to oblige them to send their sons to your 
 school at all, and therefore cannot force their attendance 
 contrary to the inclination of their parents. The written 
 apology of a parent I always sustain as a sufficient excuse 
 for absence ; but then, if a boy do not attend punctually, 
 we are not to be responsible for his improvemeat. 
 
 " I suppose there is as little cause with you, as with us, 
 for magistrates to restrict masters from receiving additional 
 emoluments from their scholars. I hope your magistrates 
 have been more liberal than ours in giving you adequate 
 salaries, that they thus inhibit you from receiving any other 
 thing. Were this to take place among us, we should be 
 deprived of a considerable part of our income. The poor 
 encouragement, and the contumelious treatment those of 
 our profession generally meet with, is neither for the hon- 
 our nor advantage of the country. While the emoluments 
 of every other rank of men in the public service have been
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 151 
 
 augmented, those of schoolmasters in Scotland, for the most 
 part, remain the same. Neither the salaries nor fees in our 
 school have been increased for nearly a hundred years. 
 Our employers, indeed, in general have raised the quarter 
 payment, but nowise in proportion to what the teachers of 
 other branches of knowledge receive. But we, in towns, 
 are tolerably well in comparison with our poor brethren in 
 the country. 
 
 " I think the same reasons which induce your patrons 
 to devolve on parents the care of instructing their children 
 in the principles of religion, should have led them to leave 
 your scholars to the charge of their relations likewise on 
 Sunday. It is hard that your attendance in a particular 
 place should always be exacted on that day, and that you 
 should not have it in your power to attend what church, 
 and hear what clergyman you think proper. Our masters 
 have no charge of their pupils on Sunday. "We do indeed 
 usually prescribe to those boys that are sufficiently ad- 
 vanced a lesson to be learnt on Sunday, and said on Mon- 
 day morning, either in Castalio's Sacred Dialogues, or in 
 Buchanan's Psalms ; and we also occasionally exercise 
 them on the principles of religion, but we have no absolute 
 regulations requiring it. 
 
 " It would certainly be of advantage that there should 
 be more than one public visitation of the school in the year. 
 We also have but one, and that always before the vacation, 
 but by the regulations of the school there should be four 
 besides, and what is very proper, the annual one, more 
 solemn than the rest. 
 
 " With regard to the making of verses, I have tried it, 
 but in very few instances with success. Boys cannot be 
 too accurately trained to know the quantity of syllables ; 
 but as to the making of verses there is little to be done in 
 school according to the present plan of education in this 
 country, especially as at college no attention is paid to that
 
 152 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 object in Scotland. At Eton, boys do not begin to make 
 verses till they have been four years at school ; and then 
 for one or two years more they do nothing but make what 
 are called nonsense verses. The great object we ought to 
 aim at is, to bring boys to understand the classics by 
 themselves, as soon as possible. 
 
 " Do not your meetings in the public school consume a 
 great deal of time, and does not their frequency diminish 
 their solemnity ? Instead of each master examining his 
 own class, it would be a fairer trial to allow some other 
 person to turn up the passage on which they should be 
 tried, and also occasionally to propose questions. In our 
 school, the part of examining the inferior classes falls 
 chiefly on me ; and when my own class is examined, I 
 desire some of the masters to turn up the passage to be 
 read, and also to ask questions. 
 
 " We meet in the Hall in the morning for prayers, 
 which does not take up above five minutes ; but we never 
 meet for public examination except in fine weather. 
 
 " As to the stated meetings for public discipline, I very 
 much disapprove of them. We have above 400 boys at- 
 tending our school, and, except once, I have not had occa- 
 sion to punish a boy publicly for above a twelvemonth ; I 
 agree with your patrons, that the seldomer corporal pun- 
 ishment is used the better, and that it cannot be inflicted 
 with too much temper. But I can see no occasion for 
 being so particular in regulations that are to be published. 
 What is said might do very well for a private advice, but 
 there seems no necessity for publishing it to the boys ; and 
 I cannot see the propriety of solemnly interrogating you 
 in their presence how far these regulations have been 
 strictly observed or not, during the preceding year. What- 
 ever tends to diminish the authority of a teacher in the 
 eyes of his scholars, as this proposal seems to do, is surely 
 hurtful."
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 153 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 18011849. 
 
 Resignation of Mr Cririe. Appointment of Mr James Gray in his place. 
 Mr Andrew M'Kean elected teacher of Writing and Arithmetic. 
 Reminiscences of Mr Benjamin Mackay. School fees. Mr Luke 
 Fraser resigns, and is succeeded by Mr George Irvine. Mr Alex- 
 ander Christison is promoted to the Chair of Humanity in the 
 University, and the Mastership which he held is conferred upon Mr 
 Aglionby R. Carson. Death of Dr Adam. His character and emi- 
 nent services to the school. Mr James Pillans chosen to the vacant 
 Rectorship. Mr A. N. Carmichael's Recollections of the High School. 
 Resolution of the Magistrates to award a Gold Medal annually to 
 the best Greek scholar. College-Bailie's Medal for Penmanship. 
 Resignation of Mr Ritchie, and Mr Samuel Lindsay chosen in his stead. 
 Mr Pillans obtains the Professorship of Humanity. Mr J. B. Patter- 
 son's Recollections of the High School. Mr Carson is placed in the 
 Rector's chair, and to the vacant Mastership Mr Benjamin Mackay 
 is appointed. Mr Gray, one of the Masters, is declared sole teacher 
 of Greek in the seminary. He obtains the office of Principal in the 
 Belfast Institution. Mr Gray's place is supplied by the appointment 
 of Mr William Pyper. The Rector and other Masters are again au- 
 thorised to teach Greek. Presentation of the Philp Gold Medal. 
 Colonel John Macdonald endows a Medal for the Dux of the third 
 class. A Gold Medal founded conformably to the Will of Mr Ritchie. 
 Mr (now Lord) Brougham's opinion of the High School. Death 
 of Mr M'Kean. Is succeeded by his son as teacher of Writing 
 and Book-keeping. Arithmetic and Geometry assigned to a special 
 Master, and Mr Walter Nichol elected to give instruction in those 
 branches. He resigns, and is succeeded by Mr George Lees. Reso- 
 lutions of the Town-Council in reference to school accommodation. 
 Proceedings at the laying of the foundation stone of the High School 
 on the Calton Hill. Donation of King George IV. towards the erec- 
 tion. Mr Irvine retires, and Dr James Boyd elected as his succes- 
 sor. Last meeting of the scholars in the School at Infirmary Street. 
 Opening of the New School, and a description of the edifice. Ad- 
 dress of Dr Brunton at the annual examination. The French lan- 
 guage introduced into the Course of Study, and Mr F. Sencbier chosen
 
 154 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 as teacher. Mr William Moffat appointed in the room of Mr Lees, 
 and M. Victor de Fivas in that of M. Senebier, who resigned. A 
 Class for Calisthenics and Fencing sanctioned by the Patrons. Ad- 
 dresses of the Rev. Dr John Lee, and Professor Pillans. Mr Alex- 
 ander M'Kean resigns, and is succeeded by Mr William Cooper. 
 Address of Sir James Forrest, Bart. Resignation of Messrs Mackay 
 and Lindsay, Classical Masters, and appointment of Mr William W. 
 Carmichael in the room of the former, and Mr William M. Gunn, in 
 that of the latter. Mr John Macmillan succeeds Dr Pyper, who is 
 promoted to a Chair in the University of St Andrews. Address of 
 Lord Provost Black. A Class for the German language established, 
 and Dr Aue chosen teacher. Retirement of Dr Carson. Appoint- 
 ment and Installation of Dr Leonhard Schmitz as Rector. Death of 
 Mr W. W. Carmichael His nephew, Mr John Carmichael, chosen 
 in his stead. Natural History and Chemistry introduced into the 
 curriculum of the School. Closing Remarks. 
 
 AT the commencement of the nineteenth century the High 
 School was in a flourishing state. Dr Alexander Adam 
 was rector, Messrs Luke Fraser, Alexander Christison, 
 James Cririe and William Ritchie were the classical mas- 
 ters ; and Mr Allan Dow had charge of the department of 
 Writing and Arithmetic. 
 
 Mr Cririe tendered his resignation in 1801, having been 
 appointed minister of Dal ton in Dumfries-shire ; and in 
 that parish he exercised his pastoral labours upwards of 
 thirty years. 1 Mr James Gray, rector of the grammar 
 school of Dumfries, became the successor of Mr Cririe in 
 the High School. He was a man of genius, and of first 
 rate scholarship ; and to the Greek language he had de- 
 voted his special attention. 2 In June 1802, Mr Andrew 
 M'Kean was chosen teacher of Writing and Arithmetic in 
 the room of Mr Dow, deceased. 3 
 
 Mr Benjamin Mackay, 4 who at a subsequent period be- 
 
 1 See APPENDIX, p. 100. 
 
 2 Ib. p. 103. 
 
 3 Ib. p. 121. 
 
 4 I beg to refer to a paper obligingly drawn up at my request by Mr 
 Mackay, illustrative of the peculiarities in his mode of teaching. (See 
 APPENDIX, No. X). To his old pupils, to his professional brethren, and
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 155 
 
 came one of the classical masters, visited the High School 
 in the year 1803, gives the following graphic account of 
 what then came under his observation : 
 
 " I FIRST saw the High School in 1803. I was then a youth of 
 sixteen, and had come to Edinburgh from Caithness, my native 
 county, with a view to prosecute the study of medicine if I could 
 find the necessary funds. I had a rich relative in town, but he 
 had arrived at that time of life when a man is more disposed to 
 tender good advice to his young friends than to give them pecu- 
 niary assistance. Accordingly, having ascertained that I had for 
 some months the charge of a parish school, and had otherwise 
 been engaged in tuition, he suggested that I should direct my 
 attention to private teaching, by which I might be enabled, not 
 only to carry out my views, but to support myself, offering at the 
 same time to introduce me to the masters of the High School, 
 with all of whom he was ultimately acquainted. The first master 
 to whom I was introduced was the celebrated Dr Alexander 
 Adam, then rector or head-master. He was sitting at his study- 
 table with ten or twelve large old volumes spread out before him. 
 He received us with great kindness, invited me to visit his class, 
 and obligingly offered to solve any difficulties that might present 
 themselves in the course of my classical reading, but held out no 
 prospect of private teaching. His appearance was that of a 
 fresh, strong, healthy old man, with an exceedingly benevolent 
 countenance. Raeburn's portrait of him, hung up in the Hall 
 of the school, is an admirable likeness, as well as the print en- 
 graved from it. He wore a short, threadbare spencer or jacket, 
 which gave him rather a droll appearance, and, as I then thought, 
 indicated economical habits. I was successively introduced to 
 all the other masters, and visited their classes. The first day 
 I entered Dr Adam's class, he came forward to meet me, and 
 said, ' Come away, sir, you will see more done here in an hour 
 than in any other school in Europe.' I sat down on one of the 
 cross benches. The class appeared very numerous and in the 
 finest order. The Doctor was calling up pupils from all parts of 
 
 to those interested in the cause of education, the details there given will 
 doubtless be deemed valuable, characteristic, and curious, even by those 
 who may not be quite ready to subscribe to some of Mr Mackay's views.
 
 156 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 it ; taking sometimes the head, sometimes the foot of the forms ; 
 sometimes he examined the class downwards from head to foot, 
 sometimes upwards from foot to head. 
 
 " The boys construed and answered with extraordinary readiness 
 and precision, illustrating every allusion to Roman or Grecian 
 History, Antiquities, Geography, Mythology, &c. Nothing was 
 omitted necessary to bring out the author's meaning and impress 
 it upon the class. He frequently alluded to his own works, in 
 which he told them every thing was to be found, if they took the 
 trouble of consulting them. The Doctor was always on the 
 floor ; sometimes retiring to his desk, and leaning against it, but 
 never sitting down. His attitudes and motions were very ani- 
 mated. In one hand he held a book or his spectacles, in the other 
 his taws or ferula, which he frequently flourished, and occasionally 
 applied with great effect ; but there was nothing like severity. 
 I was amazed at the order, readiness, and accuracy of his class. 
 This exhibition gave me a valuable lesson, and made an indelible 
 impression on my mind. During the three succeeding years I 
 frequently visited his class, and was always received with great 
 courtesy. 
 
 " The next class which I visited in company with a friend, 
 was that of Mr Alexander Christison, who was afterwards pro- 
 fessor of Humanity. He was seated quite erect in his desk, 
 on which his left elbow rested, his chin resting on his thumb, 
 and his fore finger turned up towards his temple, and occa- 
 sionally pressed against his nose. When we entered, he took 
 no notice of us. He was giving short sentences in English, 
 and requiring the boys to turn them extempore into Latin, and 
 vary them through all the moods and tenses ; which they did 
 with great readiness and precision. He alluded to the Latin 
 compositions and fine classical taste of our great poet Milton, 
 whom he lauded to the skies. His class was very numerous, and 
 presented the stillness of death. You might literally have heard 
 a pin drop. When we were preparing to come away, he descended 
 from his pulpit with a look of great dignity mixed with kindness. 
 He uttered many words of encouragement which I never forgot ; 
 and the shake of his hand assured one of a kind heart. He con- 
 tinued my friend ever afterwards, but did not on that occasion 
 promise me any private teaching. He was a tall, handsome a
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 157 
 
 square-shouldered, well-built man, every muscle indicating firm- 
 ness, strength, and energy. 
 
 " The next master to whom I was introduced was Mr Luke 
 Fraser, whom we found standing on the floor examining his class. 
 He was, I think, the strongest built man I ever beheld. He 
 was then old, and wore a scratch wig. I remember little more 
 of this visit than that he was examining his class with great 
 minuteness, occasionally teaching them to turn English into Latin, 
 and, by conjunctions and relatives, lengthening out the sentences. 
 The class, like the rest, was numerous, and in fine order. In 
 changing books, however, the boys made a little noise, which he 
 checked by a tremendous stamp on the floor, that made both 
 them and me quake, and enveloped his own legs in a cloud of 
 dust. 1 He showed me much kindness, and when, some years 
 afterwards, I opened a classical academy in the new town, after 
 his retirement, he attended several of my examinations. He 
 entertained a very high opinion of the talents, scholarship, and 
 
 1 James-Saunders Robertson, Esq., W.S., one of Mr Eraser's pu- 
 pils at this time, has kindly sent me the following amusing illustration 
 of the little peculiarity and occasional playfulness of his esteemed pre- 
 ceptor : 
 
 " Dr Adam was in the practice of devoting the afternoons of one 
 day in the week to the examination of the junior classes alternately, 
 to test their progress ; and during those examinations the master of 
 the class taught the rector's boys. Mr Fraser had a habit of con- 
 stantly stamping with his right foot on the floor to cause silence. 
 One monthly examination day he did not commence the proper busi- 
 ness of the class, expecting the rector, but took an English book, and 
 read, 
 
 ' And with my foot, I struck the ground, 
 And thrice I turned around, around, around ;' 
 
 stamping as usual with his foot. The class was convulsed with laughter, 
 but Mr Fraser did not at first perceive the cause of it. When he did, 
 he good humouredly repeated the lines and the stamping, turning round 
 and round. The boys joined in this sport ; and master and pupils were 
 stamping with their feet, turning round, and bawling out at the top of their 
 lungs, ' around, around, around,' when in stepped the rector, who doubt- 
 less concluded that Mr Fraser and his pupils had all gone mad. Such 
 an exhibition any day would have called in the rector, whose classroom 
 adjoined Mr Eraser's ; but on an examination day ! !"
 
 158 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 critical acumen of Mr Matheson, Dr Adam's predecessor in the 
 rectorship. 
 
 " The fourth master whom I visited in his class was Mr James 
 Gray. He had then a large class, which appeared in admirable 
 order. When we entered he was standing on the floor with his 
 back to us, teaching with extraordinary energy and enthusiasm, his 
 questions being put with great rapidity, force, and precision, and 
 answered in the same style. The pupils had evidently imbibed 
 much of the spirit and manner of their master. He seemed 
 anxious not only to make his pupils good scholars, but to fill their 
 minds with grand ideas. He was an exceedingly warm-hearted, 
 benevolent, and enthusiastic man. Though not robust, he had 
 a wiry active frame, jet black hair, and keen black eyes. There 
 was something like the inspiration of genius in every thing he 
 said and did. He promised me his patronage. 
 
 " The fifth class to which I was admitted was that of Mr Wil- 
 liam Ritchie. He had a very large class, and was walking about, 
 putting many questions, but not receiving so many answers. I 
 cannot say that I observed the same order, precision, or enthusiasm 
 in this class as in the others. The boys, however, seemed much 
 at their ease, and very happy. Notwithstanding the apparent lax- 
 ness of Mr Ritchie's discipline, I had afterwards reason to know, 
 that his pupils, by the end of the fourth session, showed very 
 considerable intellectual improvement, and proficiency in classical 
 studies. This, I think, was chiefly owing to his very systematic 
 manner of prescribing his daily lessons, which enabled every pupil 
 of any capacity to master them by his own private efforts. I 
 myself was present at one of his fourth year examinations, when 
 his class professed ad aperttiram libri the works of Sallust, Bu- 
 chanan's Psalms, and Mair's Introduction. Mr Ritchie, like 
 most of the other masters of the High School of that day, was, 
 though not tall, a person of extraordinary strength ; which I 
 think he never exhausted by any physical exertion in teaching 
 his class. He received me in a very obliging manner. At part- 
 ing, he inquired if I had seen the other classes, to which I an- 
 swered in the affirmative. Upon which he remarked, ' As for 
 me, I like to make my class happy ; I don't like to torment 
 children by puzzling their brains.' 
 
 " The last master connected with the High School to whom I
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 159 
 
 was introduced was Mr Andrew M'Kean, the writing-master, who 
 received me with great frankness and urbanity, but candidly told 
 me that he seldom had the disposal of private teaching in the clas- 
 sical department. He asked me, however, if I was well acquainted 
 with accounts, and could undertake to teach them; to which 
 I answered in the affirmative. He requested me to send him 
 a specimen of my writing and ciphering, which I did, and with 
 which he expressed himself much pleased. He also showed 
 me some plain and ornamental pieces of writing executed by 
 his pupils, which were truly beautiful. A year or two after, 
 he offered me the assistantship in his class, which I respectfully 
 declined. 
 
 " These first visits to the High School impressed me with a very 
 high opinion of it as an educational establishment ; and the re- 
 ception which I met with from its several masters left on my 
 mind a feeling of respect and gratitude towards them all. How- 
 ever, after waiting two or three months, I did not succeed in ob- 
 taining a single hour's private teaching. The time was well spent 
 in studying Greek, French, Elocution, Book-keeping, and several 
 other useful branches. The person whom I attended for Greek 
 was a Mr Noble, 1 an old private teacher, who, I understood, had 
 superintended the private Greek studies of Lord Brougham. He 
 was an excellent scholar. My French teacher was Mr Louis 
 Cauvin, 2 who showed me much kindness. I often wondered at 
 the amount of work done by this excellent teacher in a single 
 hour, to which his class was limited. My teacher of Elocution 
 was Mr William Scott, 3 who had long been the amanuensis and 
 favourite pupil of the celebrated David Garrick. He was the 
 best reader and reciter I ever heard. I attended these two gen- 
 
 1 Mr William Noble, at one period parochial schoolmaster at Brough- 
 ton in Peebles-shire. He ultimately settled as a private teacher of the 
 classics in Edinburgh, where he died in the year 1811. 
 
 2 Mr Louis Cauvin, teacher of French in Edinburgh. He died De- 
 cember 19, 1825, aged 71. The Hospital at Duddingstone which bears 
 his name, and founded in 1832 pursuant to Mr Cauvin's Will, is intended 
 for the education and maintenance of the sons of teachers and farmers. 
 
 3 Mr William Scott, a distinguished teacher of elocution in Edinburgh 
 for more than forty years, was the author of several useful and popular 
 elementary works on subjects connected with education. He died May 
 13, 1818, aged 73.
 
 160 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tlemen three successive autumns, and derived much advantage 
 from their able instructions." 
 
 In compliance with an application from the masters, 
 the town-council, in July 1805, raised the quarterly fees 
 from five shilling to ten shillings and sixpence, ' provided 
 the teachers agree to allow the magistrates to present ten 
 boys annually, for payment of such fees as they please." 1 
 The school-fees were not augmented for twenty-two years, 
 but an additional sum, equal at least to a quarter's fee, 
 was presented to the teacher at Candlemas. 2 
 
 Mr Luke Fraser, after assiduously and efficiently la- 
 bouring in the High School for nearly forty years, inti- 
 mated his wish to retire into private life. The patrons re- 
 ceived this intimation with regret, and resolved, that he 
 should retain his salary of L.20, that his successor should 
 only have the school-fee during Mr Eraser's life, and that 
 the latter should also receive an annuity of L.30 sterling 
 more, " in consideration of his long and faithful services 
 as a teacher." 3 
 
 Mr George Irvine, the respected House-Governor or 
 Head-Master of George Heriotfs Hospital, was appointed 
 to the vacant mastership in the High School. 4 
 
 Mr Fraser, who continued to reside in Edinburgh during 
 the remainder of his life, was one of the original members 
 of a literary society founded in the year 1807 by Mr 
 James Gray of the High School and others. For this so- 
 ciety Mi % Fraser prepared a Latin Memoir of the Life and 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. cxliii. p. 289. 
 
 2 In 1827 the patrons fixed the fees at L.I a quarter, instead of five 
 yearly payments of 10s. 6d. The fees of the school were last augmented 
 on the 21st September 1847, when those of the four classical masters 
 were increased from L.I to L.I, Is. each quarter, the addition being 
 made for behoof of the Rector. 
 
 s Council Record, vol. cxliii. pp. 298-291. For a biographical notice 
 of Mr Fraser, see A PP. pp. 92-94. 
 * See APP. pp. 107, 108.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 1C1 
 
 a criticism on the Latin prose and poetical compositions 
 of the Rev. James Gath, who died in the year 1787, after 
 having been sixty years minister of Gratney in Dumfries- 
 shire. Mr Eraser intended to devote another essay, which, 
 however, he did not finish, to the memory of Mr William 
 Nicol, his former colleague, of whose scholarship he always 
 spoke in high praise. Of a printed Latin ode, consisting of 
 five or six stanzas in Sapphic measure, written by Mr 
 Nicol under a severe attack of gout, and addressed to his 
 colleague Mr Cruickshank, who, it seems, was liable to 
 attacks of the same malady, Mr Fraser meant to avail 
 himself as a specimen of his facility in Latin versifica- 
 tion. Limited at first in point of number to twelve, this 
 Literary Association, which continued to exist, though 
 with large interruptions, till 1821, consisted of some of the 
 first characters of the town among the clergy, professors, 
 teachers, and other literary persons. The members met 
 weekly in each other's houses. The following extracts 
 from the records of this society, will show that these meet- 
 ings must have afforded an intellectual treat to those 
 present : 
 
 1807 Dec. 18. Professor Christison read an "Essay on the 
 Moral Principle." 
 
 1808 Jan. 22.-u-Mr Gray, " On the Character of the Tragic 
 Poet ^Eschylus. 
 
 Feb. 19. Professor Christison, " On the Causes of Plea- 
 sure hi Fictitious Distress." 
 
 1810 June 1. Mr Gray, " On the History of the Poetry of 
 the North." 
 
 1812 June 6. Professor Christison, " An Idea of a Mem- 
 ber of the House of Commons." 
 
 1813 April 9. Professor Christison, " On the Study of Ma- 
 thematics. 
 
 Nov. 19. Mr Luke Fraser, " On the Subject of War." 
 
 1814 Nov. 11. Mr A. R. Carson, read a paper of Dr Cririe's 
 " On Terminology." 
 
 L
 
 162 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 1814 Nov. 25. Professor Christison, " Observations on the 
 National Debt." 
 
 1815 Jan. 20. Mr Luke Fraser, On the State of Agricul- 
 ture in Scotland during the 18th century." 
 
 Feb. 3. Mr James Ballantyne read a portion of a new 
 Novel called " Guy Mannering or the Astrologer," which the 
 members heard with very great pleasure. 
 
 Feb. 10. Mr Ballantyne continued his readings from " Guy 
 Mannering," which were heard by the gentlemen present with 
 the highest admiration, and with increased delight. 
 
 Feb. 21. Another delightful reading of " Guy Mannering" 
 at Mr Ballantyne's. 
 
 1816 June 7. Mr Gray read some letters from Mr Words- 
 worth to himself, expressing his ideas of the manner and spirit 
 in which a new Memoir of Robert Burns' Life and Character 
 ought to be written. 
 
 1817 March 7. Professor Christison, " On the Objects of the 
 Feelings of Beauty and Sublimity." 
 
 April 4. Mr Robert Ainslie, " On the Arguments in favour 
 of the Immortality of the Soul." 
 
 June 27. Mr Gray read a letter intended to be sent to Mr 
 Gilbert Burns, on the subject of the different circumstances to be 
 adverted to in a proposed new biographical account of his brother, 
 Robert Burns. 
 
 Dec. 19. Mr Gray, "A Comparative View of the Hippolitus 
 of Euripides, on the Phedre of Racine. This gave rise to a long 
 conversation both on the Greek and French drama, and the ge- 
 neral effects of poetical imitation." 
 
 26. Mr Ballantyne read large Excerpts from the Novel 
 of " Rob Roy," not yet published, but to appear in a few days. 
 
 1818 Jan. 23. Mr Gray, " Biographical Account of Mr James 
 Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, with notices of his various publica- 
 tions, and critical remarks on the genius and manner of writing 
 of Mr Hogg." 
 
 1819 May 13. Mr Gray, " On the genius of Dryden as a 
 Dramatic Writer. 1 
 
 1 The late Robert Ainslie, Esq., W.S., the early friend and corres- 
 pondent of Robert Burns, the poet, kindly afforded me an opportunity 
 of examining the Records of the Literary Society, of which he was for
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 163 
 
 Dr John Hill's death having occasioned a vacancy in 
 the Humanity Chair in' the JJniversity of Edinburgh, Mr 
 Alexander Christison was unanimously elected as his suc- 
 cessor. In the High School Mr Christison had faith- 
 fully laboured for twenty years. He was the first of the 
 subordinate masters who introduced the teaching of Greek 
 as part of the fourth year's course of study ; and he essen- 
 tially contributed to have that noble language publicly 
 taught in this seminary. 1 The meagre amount of instruc- 
 tion in Greek given at the High School at this time, was 
 assuredly not creditable to the metropolitan seminary. It 
 is, however, but justice to the memory of the learned rector 
 Dr Adam, and the other masters, to remind our readers 
 that no blame can be attached to them. A jealousy, as 
 has already been shown, existed in the minds of certain 
 parties interested in the University ; whose opposition to 
 the teaching of Greek in the High School arose from an 
 apprehension that the professor of that branch of study 
 would be prejudicially affected. 2 
 
 A short while before he entered upon his professorial 
 duties, Mr Christison, in a letter now before us, thus wrgte 
 to one of his colleagues : " I have, for some months, been 
 teaching my class all the kinds of Latin verse for which 
 Ruddiman has given rules. On the examination day, I 
 requested fifteen or sixteen of the class to translate from 
 
 some time secretary. Mr Ainslie, who died in April 1838, read parts of 
 this useful little volume, entitled " Reasons for the Hope that is in us," 
 before the society. 
 
 1 See " The General Diffusion of Knowledge, one great cause of the 
 prosperity of North Britain. With an Appendix, containing a proposal 
 for improving the present mode of teaching the Greek Language. By 
 Alexander Christison, one of the Masters of the High School of Edin- 
 burgh, and F.R.S.E." Edinb. 1802. Pp. 29, 35. A favourable article 
 on this pamphlet, written by the late Mr Francis Horner, will be found 
 in the first volume of the Edinburgh Review. 
 
 a It has inadvertently been mentioned at p. 22, that Greek was taught 
 in the High School so early as the year 1593.
 
 164 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 literal English and literal Latin, and write on slates a 
 stanza of an Horatian ode of Gray, and to arrange the 
 words in the order of scanning, with the long and short 
 syllables marked. They did so without any mistake. Do 
 you not think this exercise ought to be begun earlier, and 
 to be continued through the whole course at school, if not 
 at college ? " 
 
 Mr Christison continued regularly to perform his im- 
 portant duties till his death, which took place in July 1820. 
 In another part of this volume x we have given a sketch of 
 his history ; but we cannot resist giving an extract from 
 a Memoir which appeared at the time in the " Edinburgh 
 Courant," written by the Rev. Dr Thomas Macknight, his 
 inseparable companion from early life. After mentioning 
 that the funeral of the amiable and worthy Professor was 
 a public one, and that the procession consisted of not less 
 than seven hundred persons, Dr Macknight writes as 
 follows : 
 
 " During the whole of Professor Christison's public life, it 
 was always an object of interest and pleasure to observe the 
 vigour and activity of his mind, delighting to range uncontrolled 
 over all the fields of human knowledge, and entering with ease 
 into the most abstruse and difficult speculations both of philoso- 
 phical and of mathematical science. If he indulged any particular 
 tendency, it was toward the study of the higher calculus, with 
 a view to explain its elementary principles in a clearer and 
 simpler manner than, in his opinion, had yet been done. By his 
 perpetual habits of intense thinking, from which he seemed to 
 have little pleasure hi relaxation, which to ordinary minds must 
 have been a fatigue, appeared to his no more than merely a mat- 
 ter of course, or perhaps, more properly speaking, a luxury. 
 When any topic of speculation took possession of his mind, he 
 was eager to render it the subject of conversation, in which his 
 powers of clear conception and appropriate expression were un- 
 commonly great. Yet this eagerness of discussion had no con- 
 nexion with motives of vanity, or of self-display ; it proceeded 
 1 See APPENDIX, p. 9G-100.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 16 
 
 only from the fulness of his heart, impressed with the importance 
 or interest of his subject, into which, in all its bearings, he entered 
 deeply, and with singular acuteness and discrimination. With 
 the practice of composition he had not been early familiarized, 
 nor did it ever become easy to him ; but his judgment of it was 
 always correct, and in verbal discussion, which was evidently his 
 forte, he could hardly be excelled. 
 
 " The knowledge he possessed on every subject, and the facility 
 with which he brought it to bear on all his topics of conversation, 
 were indeed admirable, and certainly formed a qualification of no 
 ordinary value for an instructor of youth. At the same time, 
 however ably he must be allowed to have discharged the func- 
 tions of his office, it can hardly be doubted, that had the light 
 and energy of so powerful an intellect been more exclusively con- 
 centrated on the peculiar studies of his profession, he must have 
 attained to a still higher rank in the scale of professional 
 eminence. 
 
 " Never did a heart of purer benevolence and integrity, or 
 more exalted above every thing mean, dishonourable, or unworthy, 
 glow in the breast of a human being. In assisting the needy, 
 and in patronising or encouraging merit, his own interest or con- 
 venience were on all occasions his least concern, and his liberality 
 in proportion to his means was often generous to an extreme. 
 Aflfectation and disguise in every shape were equally foreign to 
 his nature, which delighted in manly openness and sincerity. A 
 spirit naturally quick and lively, was always tempered by amiable 
 feeling, and the expression of benignity, which so frequently 
 brightened his masculine countenance, carried with it a peculiar 
 charm. 
 
 " In reference to the highest and most important of all our 
 moral obligations, he appeared to consider religion as a concern 
 betwixt the Almighty and our own conscience alone. But from 
 all his conduct and avowed sentiments on this momentous subject, 
 it is at once gratifying and satisfactory to be assured, that his 
 views and feelings, with regard both to natural and revealed re- 
 ligion, were such as every real Christian could have wished them 
 to be." 1 
 
 1 For further particulars see Bower's Hist, of the Univ. of Edinb., vol. 
 iii. pp. 294, 301 ; aud our APPENDIX, pp. 96-100.
 
 166 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The citizens of Edinburgh had good cause to congratu- 
 late themselves on the selection of a successor to Mr Chris- 
 tison. Mr Aglionby-Ross Carson, rector of the grammar 
 school of Dumfries, was unanimously elected to the vacant 
 mastership. Of the wisdom of the choice, it is enough 
 here to observe, that abundant evidence will appear in the 
 sequel. 
 
 In less than four years the seminary sustained a heavy 
 loss by the sudden death of its venerable rector. On 
 the 13th of December 1809, Dr Adam was seized in the 
 High School with an apoplectic affection. He lingered 
 five days under the disease. Amidst the wanderings of 
 mind that accompanied it, he was continually reverting to 
 the business of the class, and addressing his pupils ; and 
 in the last hour of his life, as he fancied himself examining 
 on the lesson of the day, he stopped short, and said, " But 
 it grows dark boys, you may go ;" and almost immediately 
 expired. The magistrates of Edinburgh showed their re- 
 spect for his memory by a public funeral. 1 
 
 Dr Adam's personal appearance was exactly as in his 
 portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn. In height he was about 
 five feet nine inches. His complexion inclined to ruddy ; 
 his eyes steady blue and moderately full. His hair was 
 regularly dressed by an old Caxon : he wore a queue till 
 near the end of his life, but for many years had given up 
 powder. He lost his teeth early in consequence of having 
 slept in a damp house. He was always neatly dressed, 
 and wore a brown coat, black waistcoat, and silk stockings 
 in the old style, knee-buckles and shoe-buckles. 
 
 Till his later years he seldom failed to leave Edinburgh 
 during the vacation. He was fond of travelling. In Au- 
 gust 1771, he visited Paris in company with Dr Joseph 
 
 1 A detailed account of the funeral procession will be found in the 
 appendix to the octavo edition of Arnot's Hist, of Edinburgh.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 167 
 
 Townsend, author of " Travels in Spain," &c. When in 
 Ireland, in the autumn of 1780, Dr Adam called on the 
 Marquess of Wellesley, then Lord Mornington, and found 
 that nobleman acting as classical instructor to two younger 
 brothers. The Duke of Wellington in all probability was 
 one of them. It is needless to add, that ever after Dr 
 Adam entertained the highest opinion of the Marquess. 
 
 Dr Adam was a hard student through life, but he took 
 regular exercise. He was an early riser. On leaving the 
 class-room at three o'clock, his general walk was round by 
 the Grange. Earlier in life Arthur's Seat was his favourite 
 ramble ; and he used to say, that he planned his works 
 while climbing the hill. He seldom sat after dinner, but 
 retired to his study, only returning for a short time to tea. 
 He has been seen to sit down on an arm-chair as if resolved 
 to take his ease ; but shortly start up unable to bear the 
 tedium of inaction. He never took supper ; and about 
 eleven went to bed. Such was his general routine. 
 
 Dr Adam entertained liberal views in regard to politics. 
 It has been said, that at times, somewhat unguardedly, he 
 gave expression to his sentiments in the class-room. The 
 charge was certainly exaggerated ; and it cannot be de- 
 nied that the rector was too often treated by persons then 
 in power rather cavalierly. It must at the same time be 
 confessed, that Dr Adam could never restrain the expres- 
 sion of his feelings against the American war ; and that he 
 continued throughout life an ardent supporter of constitu- 
 tional freedom. One of his pupils, so far back as the year 
 1805, and now holding high rank in the army, has favoured 
 us with the following reminiscence : 
 
 " On more than one occasion, when something we were 
 reading probably led to remarks on the state of the coun- 
 try at the time, and to the events of the preceding century, 
 as well as to the mode by which they might have been 
 averted, the rector would exclaim, ' If these principles had
 
 168 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 been attended to, America would have remained attached to 
 Great Britain, and the King of France would have been still 
 on his throne.' These words were uttered as if in soliloquy, 
 and in a bland and plaintive tone, for which he was very 
 remarkable : in the latter quality especially, when he ran 
 over the list of his former pupils, mentioning their names, 
 his expression, ' Ah, he is gone ! ' was very affecting. He 
 would then, in a cheerful tone, relate what had become of 
 others who had already distinguished themselves in life." 
 
 In the beginning of this century, Dr Adam rendered a 
 highly important service to the schoolmasters of his native 
 country, and to their families, by the very active part which 
 he took in procuring an Act of Parliament, for " raising 
 and securing a Fund for the relief of widows and children 
 of Burgh and Parochial Schoolmasters in Scotland." Not 
 only did he correspond on the subject with many influen- 
 tial members of the legislature, and secure their support, 
 but he also advanced the amount of expense incurred in 
 procuring the Act. Dr Adam may Avell be regarded as the 
 father of this benevolent measure ; and he had the peculiar 
 satisfaction to witness the Fund, of which he was appointed 
 the first cashier, rapidly rising in extent and respectability. 
 
 The growing importance and utility of the Scheme will 
 best appear from the subjoined statement, kindly furnished 
 at our request by the present intelligent and obliging clerk 
 to the Association : 
 
 This Fund was established by an Act of Parliament passed 
 in 1807 (47 Geo. III.), since which time two other Acts have been 
 obtained for improving the administration of it. One of these 
 was passed in 1843 (6 Viet. c. 25), and the other in 1846 (9 and 
 10 Viet. c. 226). 
 
 There were originally five classes of contributors, each paying 
 a different rate. These were by the last Act reduced to the four 
 following, viz.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 169 
 
 Rate of Contributions Rate of Annuity 
 
 Class. Payable by Schoolmaster. Payable to Widow. 
 
 I. . . . L.5 5 . . L.30 
 
 II. . . . 440 . . 24 
 
 III. . . . 330 . . 18 
 
 IV. . . . 220 . . 12 
 
 The number of contributors in 1848 was 1237, and the number 
 of widows and orphan families receiving annuities from the Fund 
 was 206. The total amount of the Fund, in the same year, was 
 L.62,812, and the amount paid to widows and orphans was 
 L.3057, 14s. The annuities are paid yearly in advance, and im- 
 mediately upon the death of a contributor his widow receives a 
 proportion of her annuity corresponding to the time which has 
 to elapse till the first full payment becomes due. The affairs of 
 the Fund are managed by a preses or chairman, a cashier, and 
 a committee consisting of fifteen members, all of whom must be 
 contributors." 
 
 It is proper to add to the above distinct statement, that 
 in consequence of Dr Walter Adam having generously pre- 
 sented the copyright of his father's Latin and English 
 Grammar to the Society of Burgh and Parochial School- 
 masters, the funds of that flourishing Association have, 
 from that source alone, been benefited to the extent of 
 nearly six hundred pounds. 
 
 In the Appendix, we have spoken of Dr Adam's valu- 
 able writings. 1 Not to advert further in regard to his ex- 
 cellent " Grammar" and " Roman Antiquities," we would 
 say of his other compilations, that their great value con- 
 sists in their being drawn directly from the classics, and 
 that they may be regarded as running commentaries on the 
 principal authors read in our Latin schools. His Latin 
 Dictionary was intended chiefly for the use of schools, and 
 to be followed by a larger work, containing copious illus- 
 trations of every word in the language. " The character 
 
 1 APPENDIX, p. 64.
 
 1 70 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 which Dr Adam had acquired by his former works for pa- 
 tient research and correct detail, stamped a high and de- 
 served authority on this book. The clear account of the 
 different meanings of words, the explanation of idioms, and 
 happy translation of difficult passages, which abound, par- 
 ticularly in the latter half, are admirably well adapted to 
 remove the difficulties of the younger student, and render 
 the work, notwithstanding the modesty of its pretensions, 
 equally valuable to the more advanced. It is much to be 
 regretted he did not live to complete his larger work, on the 
 extended scale on which the latter part of the small one is 
 executed." The manuscript of the remaining portion of 
 this valuable work, as left by the author, is now in the 
 High School. 1 
 
 It may gratify the reader to peruse the testimony which 
 has been so cordially borne to the character of Dr Adam 
 by two of his most distinguished pupils. Of the rector, the 
 late Mr Francis Horner (dux of the school in 1792), said, 
 on the 23d December 1809 : " No man ever led a more 
 meritorious and serviceable life, and I have always felt a 
 most agreeable debt of gratitude to him, for the love he 
 gave me in early life for the pursuits which are still my 
 best source of happiness, as well as for the most valuable 
 impressions in all subjects of political opinion. I could 
 
 1 In November 1829, Dr Walter Adam presented to the town-council 
 of Edinburgh the MSS. of his late father's works, together with a selec- 
 tion from the rector's correspondence, with other papers relating to the 
 High School and to classical literature. The offer was made and ac- 
 cepted on the following conditions : 1. That during Dr Walter Adam's 
 life, none of the writings should be published without his previous con- 
 sent. 2. That any of his father's MSS. which might be required for pre- 
 paring future editions of his works, should be restored to the donor on 
 his order. 3. That the MSS. of his father, and the other papers, should 
 remain within the High School, under the charge of the magistrates and 
 council, and their successors in office ; and that all arrangements re- 
 garding the MSS. should, in all time coming, be with the concurrence 
 of the rector of the High School.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 171 
 
 not refrain from sending a little notice to the Morning 
 Chronicle, expressive of the real sentiments I entertained 
 for him." The following is the notice of Dr Adam referred 
 to in the preceding sentence : 
 
 " On the 20th instant died at Edinburgh, after a few 
 days' illness, Alexander Adam, LL.D., rector of the High 
 School, having filled that situation for near forty years. 
 His long life was to its very close an unremitted course of 
 labour in the service of the public ; all the leisure which 
 the duties of his office left him being devoted to the com- 
 position of works for improving the methods of classical 
 education in Scotland, but which were found to be so use- 
 ful and accurate, that they have been received with appro- 
 bation, and adopted in this country. To the most un- 
 wearied application, he joined an enthusiasm for learning, 
 and for the liberties of mankind, and possessed the most 
 perfect independence and integrity of mind. The men who 
 were educated in that school, during his time, will long 
 remember how he inspired his boys with an attachment 
 both to himself and to the pursuits in which he instructed 
 them, and will always regard his memory with affection 
 and gratitude." J 
 
 Lord Brougham, who was Dr Adam's best scholar in the 
 year 1791, has recorded his very high opinion of the rector 
 in a recent letter to the Author. " Dr Adam," says his 
 Lordship, " was one of the very best teachers he ever 
 heard of, and by far the best he ever knew. Dr Adam 
 had the talent of making his pupils delight in learning, and 
 he opened their minds to the knowledge both of the classics 
 and the love of all other important studies." 2 
 
 1 See the valuable " Memoirs and Correspondence of Francis Horoer, 
 M.P. Edited by his Brother, Leonard Homer, Esq., F.R.S.," vol. ii. pp. 
 14, 16. 
 
 2 For particulars and references additional to those mentioned in our 
 biographical notice of Dr Adam iu the Appendix, see the Annual Obitu-
 
 172 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 A successor was found to Dr Adam in the person of Mr 
 James Pillans, who was unanimously elected, January 24, 
 1810. l Dr Adam, when conversing with his son on one 
 occasion, had spoken of Mr Pillans as a very suitable per- 
 son to succeed him. He had been one of the Doctor's pu- 
 pils; and at the annual examination in the year 1792, 
 ranked next to Francis Horner, who then carried off the 
 highest honours. Mr Pillans entered upon his new duties 
 with an enthusiastic desire to extend the reputation of this 
 seminary. His long residence in England, and his inti- 
 mate acquaintance with the course of study pursued at the 
 great schools in the south, particularly that of Eton, ren- 
 dered his appointment of no small importance to Edinburgh, 
 his native city. 2 
 
 An account of the Rector's class about this time, written by 
 the late Mr Archibald N. Carmichael, will gratify the reader 
 much more than any narrative of ours. That lamented 
 individual, then a pupil of the school, and who quitted it 
 with the highest honours, devoted his life to teaching, a 
 profession in which he pre-eminently distinguished himself. 
 Mr Carmichael had entered the seminary a few months 
 before the death of Dr Adam. It will be seen that in this 
 valuable paper he cursorily adverts to a period already 
 noticed. 
 
 ary (vol. vii. pp. 399-429) for 1823, which contains a Memoir of the Rector, 
 with original letters ; Encyclopaedia Brit., art. Adam (written by Prof. 
 Pillans); Penny Cyclopaedia, vol. i. 108. Besides consulting these 
 works, I have been favoured by my learned friend, the Rev. John 
 Ramsay, minister of Gladsmuir, with the perusal of his Life of Dr Adam, 
 prepared many years ago for publication, but which has not yet been 
 printed. 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. civ. pp. 225, 227. 
 
 2 See APPENDIX, pp. 65, 68.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 173 
 
 NOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF A TWO YEARS' AT- 
 TENDANCE ON THE RECTOR'S CLASS IN THE HIGH 
 SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH, DURING THE SESSIONS 1809-10, 
 AND 1810-11. 
 
 " The study of the Classics is admitted by men of sense 
 and true knowledge to be an important branch of liberal 
 education. The opinion which learned men in general 
 have entertained with regard to the value of an intimate ac- 
 quaintance with the ancient writers of Greece and Italy, has 
 indeed been rarely controverted by any but those who were 
 themselves ignprant of those languages, and of the literary 
 remains of past ages, the study of which they professed to 
 despise and condemn. It has been well remarked, that no 
 man of high rank ever depreciated the advantages of hon- 
 ourable birth ; and no man of true learning ever attempted 
 to disparage the intellectual acquisitions of which he was 
 possessed. Our ancestors, who were deeply versed in the 
 writings of the eminent authors of antiquity, seem to have 
 set a high value on the attainment of classical erudition. 
 By the rules which they framed for the management of the 
 education of youth in schools and colleges, they evinced a 
 solicitude for the promotion of the knowledge of Roman, 
 Greek, and Oriental learning, which reflected the greatest 
 honour on their wisdom, taste, and patriotism. If a strict 
 adherence to the spirit of these rules had been always 
 maintained, the classical acquirements of our literary coun- 
 trymen would have been far higher than they are at this 
 day. Of late, however, an increasing attention to ancient 
 literature has been manifested in various quarters. This 
 is a circumstance which must give much pleasure to every 
 one who takes an interest in the honour and prosperity of 
 his native country. In many parts of Scotland, the methods 
 of teaching the learned languages, especially the Latin, are 
 on a much more judiciously devised plan than they have been
 
 1 74 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 for a century past ; and it is fair, as well as pleasing, to sup- 
 pose that a general revival of classical taste and learning will 
 speedily take place among us. It cannot be disguised, that 
 for a long period the study of the ancient languages was 
 conducted almost nowhere in Scotland with reasonable 
 skill and ability, save in the High School of Edinburgh. 
 Whatever portion of scholarship existed among those who 
 were educated in this country during the time now referred 
 to, may be fairly attributed to the zeal and assiduity of the 
 Masters of that Seminary. For many years previous to 
 the days of Dr Adam, no great ardour for the advance- 
 ment of ancient learning was to be found even in the High 
 School of Edinburgh itself. A certain routine of educa- 
 tion was observed in the training of the ingenuous youth ; 
 but very little pains were taken with a view to infuse into 
 their minds that enthusiastic fondness for the remains of 
 Greek and Roman antiquity, which is indispensably re- 
 quisite to. any real proficiency in classical learning. To- 
 wards the end of the last, and particularly in the beginning 
 of the present, century, a favourable change in the man- 
 agement of that distinguished seminary has taken place. 
 As I had the happiness of being educated for two years in 
 that institution, under the care of two of the most eminent 
 scholars whom Scotland has produced in modern times, 
 and who successively filled the office of Rector or Head- 
 Master therein, I may be pardoned perhaps, if I presume 
 to relate some of the circumstances connected with my 
 literary progress during that period. These notices, I do 
 not commit to record for the purpose of gratifying my own 
 vanity, but from a desire to contribute my humble mite 
 towards elucidating the history of classical education 
 amongst our countrymen, and a wish to do some little 
 justice to the reputation of those eminent teachers, to whose 
 zeal, ingenuity, learning, industry, and perseverance, the 
 advancement of the cause of good letters in the northern
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 175 
 
 division of our island, is in a very peculiar degree to be 
 ascribed. From the High School of Edinburgh an im- 
 pulse has of late been communicated to many provincial 
 and parochial seminaries of education. As I am profes- 
 sionally employed in conducting the classical studies of 
 a large number of the youth in an important station of the 
 country, 1 I feel a peculiar interest in whatever relates to 
 the subject of education in general, and especially in all 
 that affects the state of that branch of it to which my own 
 labours have, for a considerable time, been almost exclu- 
 sively directed. After spending four years at a provincial 
 school, 2 from which two pupils have now proceeded who 
 obtained the gold medals at the annual examination of the 
 Rector's class in the High School of the Metropolis, I was 
 transferred to Edinburgh for the purpose of being placed 
 under the tuition of the learned Dr Adam. That gentle- 
 man, when I entered his class (September 1809), was far 
 advanced in life, and enjoyed a great and deserved reputa- 
 tion as a successful teacher of youth. His exertions were, 
 however, chiefly confined to the instruction of his pupils in 
 the Latin language. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the celebrity which the Doctor ac- 
 quired as a Latin scholar, and the number and variety of 
 the erudite works which he published, it is said that he 
 was thwarted in his attempt to introduce the study of 
 Greek into the curriculum of the Rector's class. 3 Of all the 
 masters of the High School in my time, Mr Gray was the one 
 
 1 Mr Carmichael was, at the time here referred to, Classical Master 
 in the Royal Academy, Inverness. 
 
 1 The Grammar School of Falkirk, where Mr John Stairdon, dux of 
 the High School in 1808, and Mr A. N. Carmichael, the writer of the 
 above paper, dux in 1811, were educated before entering the Rector's 
 Class. 
 
 3 The comparative neglect of the study of Greek in the Rector's 
 classes, we have already explained, as proceeding from the opposition 
 offered by the Senatus Academicus so early as the year 1772. See p. 119.
 
 176 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 i 
 
 who taught the Greek language with the greatest care and 
 assiduity. Indeed, he usually put the grammar of that 
 tongue into the hands of his boys, nearly a whole twelve- 
 month before th/3 ordinary time fixed for the commence- 
 ment of the study of Greek by his colleagues in the semi- 
 nary. "When I joined the Rector's class, I took my place 
 below all those boys who entered from the fourth class of 
 the High School at the same period, and who, as a matter 
 of right, took precedence of every one who had not enjoyed 
 the advantage of the previous tuition of the masters of that 
 seminary. The class, when fully formed, mustered up- 
 wards of 1 60, a number larger than any ever known to be 
 on the Rector's list before. Since that time, however, a 
 much more numerous attendance has annually taken place. 
 Our excellent teacher, with a natural partiality for the 
 olden time, was accustomed pretty frequently to recapitu- 
 late to his boys the circumstances of his early life, the dif- 
 ficulties which he encountered when he was a student at 
 College, and the struggles which he maintained with his 
 constituents the magistrates of Edinburgh, and with the 
 masters of the High School, about the introduction of his 
 grammar of the Latin language into the different classes of 
 the seminary. All these things appeared to have made a 
 deep impression upon his feelings, as they continued to the 
 last to be firmly rooted in his memory. To the nature of 
 his political sentiments at a time when a violent collision 
 of opinions on the revolution in a neighbouring country 
 took place throughout almost the whole range of learning 
 and polite society, he insinuated that a large portion of the 
 opposition which he met with in a particular quarter owed 
 its rise. Of him, taken all in all, it may with truth be af- 
 firmed, that no man was ever more devoted to his profes- 
 sional duties, or took greater pleasure in discharging them 
 to the utmost of his ability. In examining his pupils upon 
 their acquaintance with the subjects which formed the les-
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 177 
 
 son of the day, in order to encourage those who occupied 
 the lower benches to exertion, Dr Adam frequently called 
 upon the first boy from the foot of the class who thought 
 himself prepared to undergo the ordeal of a thorough and 
 minute examination ; and the individual, if the master was 
 satisfied with the proofs which he exhibited of diligence 
 and attention to the preparation of the various tasks that had 
 been allotted at the preceding meeting, was then permitted 
 to move upwards till he came to a fellow student who was 
 equally willing to be adventurous. Immediately below 
 him he took his place. The second aspirant was next 
 subjected to a similar trial, with the same advantages and 
 prospect of promotion in case of success. If he failed, the 
 boy only who sat next below him was permitted to set 
 him right, all the others beneath being considered to have 
 forfeited their right to correct, by declining the competi- 
 tion at first. This mode of proceeding had the good effect 
 of giving life to any latent spark of honest ambition that 
 might exist in the breast of the lower orders, and also af- 
 forded an opportunity to those who, having been trained 
 in other seminaries, were yet strangers to the discipline of 
 the High School, to extricate themselves with the least de- 
 lay possible from the inert mass of those who usually bring 
 up the rear. So completely collected did the Doctor ap- 
 pear to be at all times in discharging the minutiaa of the 
 various duties of his profession, that in examining and cri- 
 ticising the written exercises of his boys, a task which he 
 often performed during the hours of teaching, he seldom 
 or never allowed the regular routine of the class to be in- 
 terrupted, but conducted the business as if his mind were 
 not otherwise employed. He died on the 18th December 
 1809, after a few days' illness ; and so strongly did he feel 
 the influence of his former habits, that, as if he had been 
 in the middle of his boys in the class-room, he said, almost 
 in the act of closing his eyes in death, ' It was now grow- 
 
 M
 
 178 THE HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 ing dark and he must dismiss them.' Up to the period of 
 the Rector's death our readings in the class were confined 
 to Virgil and Sallust, with a little of Horace, though dur- 
 ing all the period we were under his care our studies were 
 frequently diversified by an application to his grammar, 
 and other works, an intimate acquaintance with which he 
 rigorously enforced. Three hours every week were de- 
 voted to the study of ancient geography, and two hours to 
 that of the Greek language. About this juncture I was 
 generally somewhere about twenty-five and^ thirty from the 
 top of the class, and I have no great reason to think that I 
 would have risen much higher, under the system of instruc- 
 tion then followed, even if our learned and worthy Rector 
 had lived longer. The funeral of Dr Adam was honourable 
 to his memory, and to the good sense and feeling of the city 
 of Edinburgh. His obsequies were conducted in the most 
 solemn and public manner, and all the boys of the school, 
 with their respective masters, walked in procession on that 
 occasion. This last mark of esteem for a man who had 
 contributed so much to the revival of a taste for classical 
 pursuits in this country, by his learned writings and dili- 
 gent and successful labours as a teacher of youth, was as 
 creditable to the character of those who paid it, as it was 
 in some degree suitable to the merits of the deceased 
 Rector. 
 
 " A period of about five weeks elapsed before a successor 
 to Dr Adam was appointed. The business of the class 
 during that time was conducted by Mr Luke Fraser, 1 who 
 had formerly been one of the teachers of the High School. 
 
 1 Mr Luke Fraser, who had been nearly forty years an ornament of the 
 High School, and who had resigned his mastership in 1805, readily came 
 forward, though far advanced in life, and taught the Rector's class 
 from the period of Dr Adam's death till the appointment of his succes- 
 sor. For his services on this occasion Mr Fraser received the thanks 
 of the Corporation, and a piece of plate, value twenty-five guineas. 
 (Council Record, vol. civ. pp. 240, 398-9.)
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 179 
 
 The boys welcomed the appearance of this gentleman on 
 the scene of his past labours. During this interregnum 
 many of the boys manifested a disposition to enter very 
 keenly into the consideration of the respective merits and 
 claims of those gentlemen who were understood to be can- 
 didates for the vacant Rectorship. All of them agreed in 
 reprobating the election of a stranger ; but they were di- 
 vided in their opinions about the pretensions of even the 
 masters of the High School to the office in question. Mr 
 Ritchie, the senior master, possessed the good wishes of by 
 far the greater number of the boys. His easiness of tem- 
 per, and good-natured forbearance with his pupils on every 
 occasion, rendered him almost a general favourite. It 
 was believed that the exertions made by Mr Carson, the 
 present (1823) justly respected Rector of the School, in fa- 
 vour of his senior colleague, proved injurious to his own 
 interests at that election ; and the supposition of his being 
 called to the chair in the event of the failure of Mr Rit- 
 chie's application, gave pleasure to all. Mr Irvine was 
 never named as a candidate ; Mr Gray's claims were heard 
 of with impatience ; and the frequent cries of ' No Fraser,' 
 ' No Pillans,' sufficiently indicated the nature of the esti- 
 mation in which the merits of these gentlemen were held. 
 Towards the end of January 1810 Mr Pillans was elected 
 to the office of Rector, and was introduced to his class and 
 to his colleagues by the magistrates of Edinburgh. The 
 apparent enthusiasm with which he was received in the 
 Hall of the High School on that occasion, betokened a ter- 
 mination to our incessant discussions on the subject ; and 
 the compliment of half a day's liberation from our usual 
 tasks, which was bestowed by the new Rector, appeared 
 to form an auspicious commencement of the exercise of his 
 official duties among us. The restless and impatient spirit 
 that had occasionally manifested itself in the class, conti- 
 nued however to be kept alive. As the greater part of his
 
 180 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 pupils were now in an advanced stage of youth, the task 
 of restoring order in the class was a matter of no ordinary 
 difficulty to the newly-appointed Rector. An act of rigour 
 soon became indispensably necessary for the maintenance 
 of his authority. One of the biggest boys in the class was 
 made the subject of the summum supplitium, in spite of his 
 most piteous deprecations. The presence of an able-bodied 
 janitor overawed every attempt at resistance on the part 
 of the culprit or his associates ; and the severe example 
 which the punishment of this boy exhibited to the rest of 
 the scholars, produced the most salutary effect on the 
 spirits of the mutinous and unruly. Order was completely 
 re-established, and a vigilant and rigorous system of dis- 
 cipline commenced its full operation. Acts of severity 
 were still at certain times necessary ; but the general and 
 habitual obedience of the class was secured. The season 
 was, however, now too far advanced for the introduction 
 of many improvements in the plan of our studies, that were 
 afterwards so successfully matured and prosecuted by our 
 ingenious and accomplished Rector, as well as for the total 
 abolition of corporal punishments, and the substitution in 
 their place of tasks to be performed at the expense of lei- 
 sure time. Great changes were soon to be made in the 
 mode of conducting both the education and the discipline of 
 the class, and which were to raise the reputation of the 
 seminary to a height far beyond that which any similar 
 institution in Scotland had ever attained. The Hexame- 
 trical works of Horace, with the exception of the treatise 
 de Arte Poetica, and some of the more indelicate Satires ; 
 the Andrian of Terence, with part of the Heautontimoru- 
 menos ; the Oration of Cicero pro Archia Poeta, his first 
 and fourth in Catilinam, and his Cato Major de Senectute, 
 with lessons in Greek and Ancient Geography, in the for- 
 mer three times, and in the latter twice, a-week, for one 
 hour each day, after the ordinary business of the class was
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 181 
 
 over, formed the subject of our labours during the remain- 
 der of the season ; and indeed yielded abundant employ- 
 ment for the most ardent votary of study. The readings 
 in Greek of the more advanced boys were confined chiefly 
 to the historical extracts contained in Professor Dalzel's 
 Collectanea Majora ; and the attention of the junior part 
 of the class was principally directed to the Grammar and 
 to the Collectanea Minora of the same eminent scholar. 
 On the day of the annual examination in August, the place 
 which I occupied was the tenth from the head of the class. 
 All the boys above me had preceded me one whole year 
 at least in their attendance on the Rector's class, and the 
 greater number of them were my seniors in years. On 
 reviewing the history of the highest twelve in the class, it 
 is with regret I find that three of them have already left 
 the stage of life. Of those three, Mr Joseph Hume, 1 son 
 of the late professor of Scots law, was one. This young 
 man made a distinguished appearance at the university. 
 Four or five are to be seen occasionally in their gowns of 
 office in the Parliament House, when the Courts of Law are 
 sitting ; and the remainder are employed, I believe, in the 
 department of medicine. It has fallen to my own lot, as I 
 have before noticed, to be occupied in instructing the minds 
 of my young countrymen in the knowledge of Greek and 
 Roman learning. 
 
 Although I had every reason to be satisfied with my situ- 
 ation and prospects in the class at the close of the session 
 in 1810, I felt great reluctance at the thought of returning 
 to the High School for another year. I wished very much 
 to enter the College of Glasgow ; and at one time supposed 
 
 1 Mr Joseph Hume, the only son of Baron Hume, was called to the 
 Scottish Bar in 1818. He was, says Mr Lockhart (Life of Sir Walter 
 Scott, 2d edition, vol. vi. p. 59), " a singularly graceful young man, rich 
 in the promise of hereditary genius, but alas ! cut off in the bloom of 
 his days." He died April 3, 1819.
 
 182 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 that I had succeeded in persuading my father to gratify my 
 inclinations on this point. As far as I can distinctly recol- 
 lect, my unwillingness to return to the scene of my former 
 labours, originated in the circumstance of my most inti- 
 mate companions in the class having already completed 
 their course of education at the High School, which I felt- 
 would necessarily give me the painful distinction of being 
 a solitary survivor of them all within the precincts of the 
 seminary. While I remained in a state of some uncer- 
 tainty with regard to my ulterior destination, a letter from 
 our Rector, which that gentleman did my father the honour 
 of addressing to him on the subject of my former studies, 
 very opportunely arrived at Falkirk, and speedily termi- 
 nated all hesitation about my proceedings for the ensuing 
 year. I was, in consequence of this letter, dispatched to 
 Edinburgh in the second week of October 1810, and having 
 stood higher in the class than any one then present, who 
 belonged to it in the former session, I took my place, ac- 
 cording to the established rule in such circumstances, as 
 dux of the new assembly. As I had not made my appear- 
 ance on the first day of the session, my arrival seemed to 
 occasion not a little surprise among my class-fellows of the 
 preceding year. From some pretty unequivocal expressions 
 with which my return was greeted by one of them, I could not 
 help thinking that my unexpected presence gave them 
 considerable dissatisfaction. The greater number of the 
 boys, however, among whom I was now placed, having been 
 just transferred to the care of the Rector, by Mr Ritchie, 
 under whose direction and superintendence they had studied 
 for the usual and legitimate period of four preceding ses- 
 sions of the High School, were unknown to me even by 
 sight. The different classes of that Institution, it is well 
 known, have almost as little intercourse with each other 
 as if they were the various castes of an oriental population. 
 Within a day or two after my entry to the class, I was
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 183 
 
 compelled to yield my place of dux to a competitor for the 
 highest honours of the school, who was admitted by all to 
 be a very dangerous rival. This young man was the son 
 of an eminent professor in the University of Edinburgh, 
 and many circumstances in his situation contributed to 
 justify the opinion which was entertained with respect to 
 his abilities and prospects, by our youthful companions. 
 He retained his rank as dux for about a fortnight, after 
 which he lost the station of pre-eminence, which he hardly 
 ever again occupied for a whole day throughout the re- 
 mainder of the session. The competition for the gold medal 
 at the next annual examination of the class, was, subse- 
 quently to this time, keenly maintained for the rest of the 
 year between me and a little boy of great industry, whose 
 application to his studies secured him the second place in 
 the class, at the conclusion of our public exhibition in the 
 following August. Having now recovered the ground I 
 had lost, I endeavoured to retain it afterwards as effec- 
 tually as possible. Every thing henceforward went on 
 smoothly as far as the business of the class was concerned ; 
 and even the boys who had been recently introduced into 
 it, and who had not formerly been very remarkable for 
 their orderly habits, were gradually, yet speedily, brought 
 into a state of entire and scholarlike subordination to the 
 will of the Rector, by means of that firm and temperate 
 system of discipline to which all, without distinction, found 
 themselves subjected. Our readings up to the Christmas 
 vacation had been extended to the whole of the first and 
 second book of the ^Eneid of Virgil, and to sixty chapters 
 of the Jugurtha of Sallust. As an exercise which might 
 amuse us usefully during the interval of our ordinary stu- 
 dies, the task of making an epitome in English of that por- 
 tion of the work of Sallust which we had read in the class, 
 was assigned to us by our zealous and indefatigable Eec- 
 tor. In the accomplishment of this labour we were in-
 
 184 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 structetl to omit all the author's digressions, and to restrict 
 our efforts as much as we could to a bare narrative of the 
 Jugurthine war. 
 
 In order to facilitate the execution of a performance to 
 which nothing similar had ever been required from the 
 boys before, and which, in itself, appeared to present for- 
 midable difficulties to our inexperienced minds, Mr Pillans 
 was pleased to favour us with an outline of the chapters to 
 which our attention was to be directed. This analysis he 
 read to us from the chair, that it might serve as a sort of 
 guide to conduct us in our solitary exertions. At the re- 
 opening of the school in January 1811, I was called upon 
 to read over a part of my exercise, which, to my great hap- 
 piness, received the impress of the master's approbation. 
 About the beginning of February an important innovation 
 was introduced into the plan of teaching hitherto observed 
 in the senior class of the High School. This was the study 
 of the art of making Latin verses an addition to our other 
 avocations which gave a new and powerful stimulus to the 
 activities of the boys who had made the highest advances 
 in classical attainments, and which contributed in an emi- 
 nent degree to promote the knowledge of Roman Anti- 
 quities and learning in the individuals composing the class, 
 and to enhance and extend the rising celebrity of the whole 
 seminary. As a prelude and preparation to the task of 
 constructing verses, a small volume of Extracts from the 
 Elegiac works of Ovid, Tibullus, and Propertius, which 
 had been printed for the use of the class, was put into our 
 hands, in order merely, as we understood, that by means 
 of it we might become acquainted with a kind of poetical 
 measure and verse not often met with in the books that are 
 usually read in classical schools. After being trained for 
 a short time to the analysing of long and short syllables 
 by the ordinary method of scanning, &c., a few of the boys 
 who stood highest in the class were required to prepare a
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 185 
 
 number of lines or verses, not less than four, according to 
 the true and strict rules of Prosody. In complying with 
 this injunction, we were at liberty to make use of the very 
 words employed by the writers in the volume of Extracts, 
 on condition that we took the words of our Hexameters 
 from the Pentameter verses of these Elegiac Poets, and 
 those of our Pentameters from their Hexameters, and that 
 we did not appropriate to our own purposes, and employ 
 consecutively any two consecutive words in any one line 
 in the volume. In the first effort one only, or two, of our 
 number acquitted themselves to the satisfaction of the mas- 
 ter. On this occasion, as I remember well, we were not 
 a little perplexed with regard to the true object and design 
 of so great an innovation upon the established routine of 
 our studies, as this species of labour appeared to be. Some 
 of us had recourse, in this emergency, to a class-fellow, 
 who had been educated in England, as we supposed he 
 could give us proper information on a subject which en- 
 grossed our anxious consideration. All the comfort we 
 derived from him, however, consisted in a significant inti- 
 mation, that we might think ourselves very well off indeed, 
 if we should escape being obliged to write sense verses at 
 an early day. This suggestion we treated as utterly ground- 
 less and incredible. Notwithstanding the unpromising re- 
 sult of our first essays, a few of the boys gradually acquired, 
 by a little practice, a rapid facility in fabricating nonsense 
 verses. Our next step in the progress of metrical compo- 
 sition consisted in our attempts on a few lines literally 
 translated from a Latin poem on the Sabbath-day, which 
 was usually read out to us by the Rector on the Saturdays, 
 and which were then taken down in writing by those who 
 proposed to render them into Roman measures in the hours 
 of domestic retirement. The versions of these lines were 
 always looked for by the Rector on the ensuing Monday. 
 The translation of some lines of Pope's English version of
 
 186 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 the Iliad of Homer constituted another of our efforts in the 
 same department of study. The best specimen of versifi- 
 cation produced in this instance was given in by the young 
 gentleman 1 who dispossessed me of the place of dux for 
 nearly a whole fortnight at the commencement of the ses- 
 sion. This version of his, and some other similar per- 
 formances by his class-fellows being afterwards printed, 
 were circulated through the room on the day of the annual 
 examination of the school, as proofs of the proficiency 
 which had been made, within the course of a very few 
 months, in a branch of classical education never before 
 cultivated, or at least wholly neglected for ages past in the 
 seminaries of Scotland. After this period, Mr Pillans was 
 accustomed to prescribe to us a subject for a number of 
 Hexameter and Pentameter verses, which were to be pre- 
 sented to him on an appointed day. In the management 
 of these exercises, we sometimes enjoyed the benefit of a 
 few hints thrown out by the master himself; and at other 
 times we were left altogether to the resources of our own 
 ingenuity. The greatest number of lines exhibited in the 
 class on any one topic, previously to the vacation in August, 
 was forty-two. The subject of the essay to which I allude 
 was the prospect of leaving school, under the general title 
 of Calendae Sextiles. Those boys who remained another 
 year at the seminary, were afterwards, I know, able to pre- 
 sent performances of even three or four times as long. Be- 
 sides the introduction of that admirable improvement in 
 the mode of our education, which I have attempted briefly 
 to describe, this session witnessed the adoption of an import- 
 ant alteration in the system of discipline, by which the 
 order of the class was maintained. The alteration con- 
 sisted in the partial substitution of literary tasks in the 
 
 ' The late Mr Francis Homer's remarks on this identical exercise we 
 have given in another part of this volume.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 187 
 
 place of corporal punishment. To whatever causes and 
 motives the alteration might be attributed at the time, 
 there can be no doubt that it was the product of careful 
 and mature deliberation, and that it formed an essential 
 part of that plan of improvement by which the intelligent 
 Rector proposed to ameliorate the state of the class, and to 
 raise by degrees the seminary to the summit of honourable 
 distinction. The use of the ancient instruments of correc- 
 tion in the management of discipline was from this time 
 greatly discontinued, and in the course of a few years, it 
 was, I am well assured, altogether superseded. On re- 
 viewing the proceedings of the class during this session, I 
 find we were not permitted to be idle. Besides the nu- 
 merous exercises in Latin verse, which we were required 
 to perform, two ordinary versions were generally presented 
 by us to the master every week. One of these was exe- 
 cuted under the eye of the Rector himself in the Writing 
 class room, which was attached to the establishment. In 
 consequence of the great increase of scholars since the ap- 
 pointment of Mr Pillans to the office of Rector, this room 
 became inadequate for the purpose of containing the whole 
 number of the boys. It was now therefore no uncommon 
 thing for the master to leave the dux above to superintend 
 the lower part of the class, while he was employed in di- 
 recting the more advanced boys in the composition of their 
 exercises below. It was the duty of the dux, upon these 
 occasions, to point out to the pupils the objects to which 
 they ought to devote their attention, and to make a report 
 of offenders against propriety of behaviour. In ordinary 
 cases, while the business of the Greek class was going on, 
 he has been frequently appointed to listen in the hall to a re- 
 capitulation of the lessons of the day, by those boys whose 
 studies were directed to Latin only. In this temporary 
 and occasional employment of the dux, may perhaps be 
 discerned the first germ of that distribution of the class into
 
 188 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 divisions of nine each, together with a monitor placed at 
 their head, which was subsequently adopted,, and which 
 proved an arrangement of the utmost utility to the boys. 
 Our public readings since the beginning of January, in- 
 cluded the Odes of Horace as far as to the end of the third 
 book, and his Epistola ad Pisones, de Arte Poetica; the 
 twenty-first and twenty-second books of Livy's History, 
 which embraced an account of the commencement of the 
 second Punic war ; also occasional portions of the twenty- 
 fifth book, which we were called on to translate extem- 
 poraneously; and a large part of the volume of Ex- 
 cerpta from the Elegiac writers, to which a reference has 
 already been made. In Greek, the more advanced boys 
 were introduced to the writings of Homer, of which they 
 read the first book - of the Iliad ; and on the Mondays, 
 throughout the greater part of the season, the readings in 
 Greek were confined to the New Testament. The atten- 
 tion of the junior part of the class was directed chiefly to 
 Moore's Grammar, and Dalzel's Collectanea Minora. The 
 number of the scholars this session amounted to 143. 
 
 On the day of the annual examination in August 1811, 
 I received the gold medal as dux of the class, and with 
 mixed emotions of pleasure and pain, I took my leave of a 
 seminary where I had spent so many happy and active 
 moments. Without possessing friends or patronage of any 
 kind to recommend me to the countenance of the master, I 
 had been favoured with his peculiar notice and approbation 
 during the whole time in which I had enjoyed the dis- 
 tinguished advantage of being one of his pupils. To the 
 generous interposition of his good offices in my behalf, I 
 owed my return to the High School in October 1810. To 
 his unwearied attention to my improvement I am indebted 
 for those literary qualifications, of whatever sort they be, 
 which have been the means of promoting my progress in 
 the world ; and from his disinterested regard to my welfare,
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 189 
 
 I continue to this hour to receive the most substantial marks 
 of kindness and active friendship. In the discharge of my 
 own professional duties, I have always endeavoured, hand 
 passibus cequis, to follow the path marked out for my con- 
 duct by the example of one who, with so much honour to 
 himself, and so much advantage to society and literature, 
 presided over the High School during the greater part of 
 the time I studied there, and who now adorns, by his genius 
 and erudition, the most illustrious University in Scotland. 
 Of the young men who stood highest among their school 
 fellows, and who, from their contiguity and a similarity of 
 habits and tastes, were my more intimate companions in 
 the class, two now fill with distinguished ability professors' 
 chairs, the one in the medical branch of science in the 
 University of Edinburgh, 1 and the other in the classical de- 
 partment of the sister seminary of the west. 2 The pulpit, 
 the bar, and the profession of medicine, find employment, 
 I believe, for the rest. 
 
 The succinct review which I have thus taken of my 
 juvenile labours in Edinburgh, and of the great improve- 
 ments introduced into the education and discipline of the 
 class to which I belonged, after it was placed under the 
 care of Mr Pillans, has occasioned me to travel over in 
 idea a succession of scenes and incidents which will always 
 be interesting to my recollection ; and I may be permitted 
 to hope, that the details now given, however meagre and 
 imperfect they may be, will not be without some use to 
 the cause of learning, and of good order among the liberal 
 and ingenuous youth of Scotland." 3 
 
 1 The present Dr Robert Christison, author of the standard Treatise 
 on Poisons. 
 
 The late Sir Daniel Keyt Sandford, Kt., Professor of Greek in the 
 University of Glasgow. 
 
 3 This important document was kindly placed at my disposal by Mr 
 Carmichael's eldest son, who is now one of the Masters of the High 
 School,
 
 190 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In the year 1812 Mr Pillans published a selection from 
 the school exercises of his pupils. The volume, with all 
 its imperfections, was certainly honourable to its youth- 
 ful authors, especially when it is considered that only one 
 of them had then reached his fifteenth year, and that the 
 class had, with the exception of little more than a twelve- 
 month, been quite unaccustomed to metrical compositions 
 in the Latin language. But though the verses, as spe- 
 cimens of what boys may be brought to accomplish in 
 so short a period, are creditable, we have reason to be- 
 lieve, that the learned editor agrees with us in thinking 
 that the publication was premature. A critique of the 
 work, from the pen of Robert Southey, the poet laureate, 
 appeared at the time in the Quarterly Review ; and an- 
 
 TON-EALNLAinN 
 
 /TOYTO -TO BOEH'THPION 
 
 VIGNETTE. " To , the most distinguished of his 
 
 class-fellows in the Greek language, the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and 
 Council of Edinburgh present this reward of victory.''
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 191 
 
 other in the Edinburgh Review, supposed to have been 
 written by its accomplished editor. 
 
 Great attention was now paid to the cultivation of 
 Greek literature ; and the appearance which the scholars 
 had repeatedly made at the public examinations was such, 
 that the patrons, to their honour, on the motion of Sir 
 John Marjoribanks, Bart., Lord Provost, unanimously re- 
 solved, July 27, 1814, "that there be annually pre- 
 sented by the town of Edinburgh to the boy at the head 
 of the Greek class, taught by the rector of the High School, 
 a gold medal of the same value [five guineas] as that an- 
 nually presented to the dux of the Latin class." J The 
 medal bears on one side the city arms, and on the other 
 an inscription in the Greek language, as shown on the op- 
 posite page. 
 
 Mr Robert Johnston, an excellent man and a public- 
 spirited citizen, who had frequently been a member of the 
 town-council, intimated his wish, in 1814, to present, in 
 his character of College-Bailie, a silver medal to the boy 
 who produced the best specimen of penmanship. The ex- 
 ample of Mr Johnston was generously, and with the best 
 effects, followed by his official successors for twenty years. 2 
 
 " Several circumstances, to which I shall briefly advert," 
 says an old pupil, " seemed, in my time, to distinguish 
 the High School, and which could not fail to give a pecu- 
 liar character to many of its scholars in after life. For 
 instance, the variety of ranks ; for I used to sit between a 
 youth of ducal family and the son of a poor cobbler. 
 Again, the variety of nations : for in our class, under Mr 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. clvi. p. 223. A list of the Greek medallists 
 will be found in the APP. p. 142 et teg. 
 
 3 See APP. p. 151 et seq. for a list of the College-Bailie medallists for 
 Writing from 1814 to 1834, inclusive, with the names of the donors. A 
 similar list of Mr M'Kean's medallists from 1802 to 1824, will be found 
 in the portion of our work just referred to.
 
 192 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Pillans, there were boys from Russia, Germany, Switzer- 
 land, the United States, Barbadoes, St Vincents, Deme- 
 rara, the East Indies, besides England and Ireland. But 
 what I conceive was the chief characteristic of our school, 
 as compared at least with the great English schools, was 
 its semi-domestic, semi-public constitution, and especially 
 our constant intercourse, at home, with our sisters and 
 other folks of the other sex, these too being educated in 
 Edinburgh ; and the latitude we had for making excursions 
 in the neighbourhood." 
 
 Many foreigners of all ranks have visited this seminary ; 
 and some of them have published an account of what they 
 witnessed there. Dr Griscom, a learned American pro- 
 fessor, who spent several days in Edinburgh during the 
 spring of 1819, has presented his countrymen with full de- 
 tails relative to the working of the High School system, 
 and has passed no common eulogium on the very efficient 
 manner in which the masters performed their duty. 1 
 
 " With an American acquaintance," says the professor, " I 
 went to the High School, and was introduced to the rector, J. 
 Pillans. This grammar school is of ancient standing, and, like 
 the University, it is under the direction of the magistrates of the 
 city. It dates an existence of nearly 300 years, but the present 
 building was erected in 1777, and is 120 feet long. The number 
 of scholars is at present between 800 and 900. Four teachers are 
 employed, in addition to the rector. This gentleman, by the 
 effort of a particular genius, and indefatigable activity, has com- 
 pletely succeeded in introducing into this large school the system 
 of monitorial instruction, and applying it to classical learning. 
 He has under his exclusive charge twenty-three classes, each 
 containing nine boys. Every class has its monitor, who hears 
 
 1 See " A Year in Europe ; comprising a Journal of Observations in 
 England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Switzerland, the North of Italy, 
 and Holland, in 1818 and 1819. By JOHN GRISCOM, LL.D., Professor 
 of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy in the New York Institution." 
 2d edition, New York, 1824. 2 vols. 12mo.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 193 
 
 the rest recite. The rector superintends the whole, and decides 
 all questions of dispute, when appeals are made to him against 
 the decision of the monitors. In each room is a cwtos morwn, 
 who watches the behaviour of the scholars, and notes every in- 
 stance of remissness. Almost the only punishment resorted to, 
 is the imposing of additional tasks on offenders, and obliging 
 them to attend the school, during the hours and half-days of or- 
 dinary vacation. The twenty-three classes all recite the same 
 lesson at the same time. The noise they make is unavoidably 
 great, but it is the sound of useful activity. We were highly 
 gratified with the evidences of intelligence and attainment which 
 the boys displayed when collected into one room, and examined 
 before us by the rector. The superiority of their instruction ap- 
 peared not only in the facility of their translations, but in the 
 readiness with which they recited parallel passages, and referred 
 to the illustrations of different classical authors, and in their ac- 
 quaintance with the geography, chronology, &c., of the historical 
 passages, which were given them as extemporaneous exercises. 
 The whole cost of tuition in this excellent school is but three 
 pounds per annum, including the use of the library. There are 
 few boys in the school above sixteen years of age, a period which 
 leaves them sufficient time for apprenticeship to any kind of bu- 
 siness. With such advantages of intellectual and moral instruc- 
 tion, is it surprising that Scotland should have taken such an 
 elevated stand among the nations, for the intelligence, industry, 
 and sobriety of her people ?" l 
 
 The result of Dr Griscom's visit to Edinburgh was the 
 establishment of a classical seminary at New York, on the 
 
 i Griscoin's Year in Europe, &c., vol. ii., pp. 222, 223. Mr Pillans was 
 the first in this country who applied the Bell and Lancastrian system 
 to the teaching of the higher branches, such as Greek, Latin, Ancient 
 Geography, &c. ; having in 1811, two years after he was made Rector 
 of the High School introduced into that seminary the method of mu- 
 tual instruction. See Bulwer's England and the English, 2d edit., 
 vol. i. pp. 278, 279 ; Works of Jeremy Bentham, edition by Dr Bowring, 
 (Part xv. pp. 59-63. Edin. 1841. 8vo.), for an account, written in 1813 
 and 1814 by Mr Pillans and Mr James Gray, of the successful applica- 
 tion of the Lancastrian system in the Rector's class, and in one of the 
 subordinate classes of the High School.; 
 
 N
 
 194 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 model of the Scottish metropolitan High School. A fund 
 was raised by subscription of one hundred dollars each, 
 and at the head of the school, which was opened in 1825, 
 were placed Mr Daniel H. Barnes, and Dr Griscom, as 
 associate principals. 1 Captain Thomas Hamilton, in his 
 well-known work on America, has spoken with high com- 
 mendation of the New York School, and has adverted to 
 the striking difference which exists between the system of 
 rewards and punishments adopted in the schools of the 
 United States, and in those of England. 2 
 
 Early in the year preceding Dr Griscom's visit to this 
 seminary, Mr Ritchie announced his intention to with- 
 draw from the school at the close of that session. The 
 town-council, appreciating the services and worth of this 
 estimable man, at once agreed to certain arrangements, 
 by which his successor was taken bound to pay to him 
 a retiring allowance. Of Mr Ritchie's future history 
 we have given an account elsewhere. 3 In his stead, Mr 
 Samuel Lindsay, an excellent scholar, who had taught 
 with great efficiency in George Heriot's Hospital for seven 
 years, was unanimously chosen. 4 
 
 On the death of Mr Christison in June 1820, a way for 
 the promotion of Mr Pillans was opened. The manner in 
 which he had discharged the responsible duties of rector 
 was so well appreciated, that the public voice awarded to 
 
 1 See " An Address, pronounced at the opening of the New York 
 High School, with Notes and Illustrations," by JOHN GRISCOM, LL.D. 
 New York, 1825. 12mo ; Hardie's Description of New York, pub- 
 lished there in 1827, pp. 239-243. Sometime ago Dr Griscom, in a 
 letter to the author, says, that " the High School of New York, which, 
 for four or five years after its establishment, was one of the most flou- 
 rishing institutions in the United States, has become defunct, in conse- 
 quence mainly of a defective organization relative to its pecuniary in- 
 terests. The building was sold in 1832." 
 
 - " Men and Manners in America," vol. i. p. 87. 
 
 3 See APPENDIX, p. 101, et seq. 
 
 1 See APPENDIX, p. 108.]
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 195 
 
 him the chair of Humanity ; and the patrons at once ap- 
 pointed him to the vacant professorship in the University. 
 The subjoined paper, by the late Rev. John-Brow.n 
 Patterson, minister of Falkirk, who was dux of the school 
 in August 1820, will be read with interest. These " re- 
 collections'" were written by Mr Patterson during his first 
 session at the University. 
 
 "RECOLLECTIONS OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 " My attendance at the rector's class in the High School 
 of Edinburgh is endeared to me by many a delightful recol- 
 lection. It was there that I first had my ambition roused, 
 and my mind cultivated to any good purpose. It was 
 there that I first found myself of importance among my 
 fellow creatures. It was there that I formed and enjoyed 
 many pleasant companionships; and it was there I obtained 
 the notice and kindness of one who has never ceased to 
 load me with favour, and to whom, I trust, I shall never 
 cease to entertain sentiments of mingled esteem and grati- 
 tude. I cannot, then, better employ this leisure hour than 
 in noting down a few remembrances of its admirable me- 
 chanism, in tracing the outline of a picture which none 
 of the changes and chances of this mortal life shall ever 
 blot from my memory. 
 
 " The High School of Edinburgh may be regarded as the 
 national school of Scotland, its fame attracting pupils to it 
 from every part of the kingdom. It is an establishment 
 for classical learning, consisting of a rector and four 
 teachers. Each of the latter receives a class of beginners 
 quadrennially, who proceed under his direction till they 
 have gone through the fourth class ; that is, accomplished 
 their fourth year of study. The master then hands them 
 over to the rector, and takes a first class, who, in their 
 turn, are conducted through the same course. The fourth 
 class, when received by the rector, is generally met by a
 
 196 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 number of pupils from seminaries in other parts of the 
 city and country, desirous to complete their course of ele- 
 mentary classical study under his wing. 
 
 " When the class was fully collected, exercises were pre- 
 scribed to the boys, according to the respective merits of 
 which they should be arranged. To prevent fraud in their 
 execution, they were written in school. Ah ! how import- 
 ant was that day to each individual of the youthful multi- 
 tude ! Many a question was put that moming to their 
 fellows, ' Do you think we shall write to-day ? ' Many an 
 anxious group assembled round the janitor to enquire his 
 instructions for the day, and half in pleasure half in fear, 
 received the answer that confirmed their suspicions. The 
 bell rings, the murmuring tide of boys pours into the 
 school-room, the master enters, the lesson proceeds, 
 but, ere it close, they are ordered to hold themselves in 
 readiness to write in the afternoon. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 " The version is written and delivered, and the pupils 
 retire to await in trembling hope the result of their labours. 
 Next morning the decision takes its course, 'Valet ima 
 summis mutare, et insignem attenuat.' A year's pupil is 
 forced with shame to give place to a ' novus homo,' and 
 the novice shudders to find himself on the slippery pin- 
 nacle of honour. The first time I found myself on the 
 dux's seat was on an occasion of this kind ; and I found it 
 an indescribable relief to be disenthroned, and placed in 
 the safer station next to it. After the boys had thus 
 reached their general level, the change of places became 
 more gradual ; the spirit of emulation, though it burned 
 more intensely in proportion as you approached nearer 
 the dux's seat, was not, however, entirely unfelt in any 
 part of the class. This principle derived an increase of 
 efficacy from the private habits of life of the scholars. 
 They are not, as in England, bestowed in large boarding-
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 197 
 
 houses attached to the school, under the charge of duennas 
 who know little, and care less, about their progress. They 
 are generally under the eye of their parents and friends, 
 whose first question on their return from school used to 
 regard their success there. This indeed was seldom neces- 
 sary, as a boy's face, on his appearance at the dinner-table, 
 was generally a sufficient index of his fate. The ardour of 
 emulation seldomer needed to be encouraged than repress- 
 ed by the master. Many a one I knew who would rather 
 throw away his health than lose his place. 
 
 " But in a class of from two to three hundred, there 
 were necessarily many who could not expect to obtain a 
 dignified place in it, and who looked up to the head of the 
 class through a vista of hopeless length ; and, for the same 
 reason, there were many who were necessarily excluded 
 from any share of direct instruction for days, and even for 
 weeks, if the class were always assembled in full. These in- 
 conveniences were obviated by the plan of divisions. These 
 were formed in the following manner : Suppose the class 
 consisted of two hundred and seventy-one. One was set 
 apart as general monitor, twenty-seven as monitors, and 
 the remaining two hundred and forty-three were distributed 
 into twenty-seven divisions of nine each. To each of 
 these divisions was assigned one of the monitors, who, of 
 course, were the boys highest in place. They were then 
 ranged along the class-room and two adjoining writing- 
 rooms, and employed in saying the lessons under the au- 
 thority of the monitor, while the master went about among 
 them, superintending their movements, and obviating their 
 difficulties. Each monitor was supreme in his own divi- 
 sion, obliged, however, to govern by certain determinate 
 laws, and subject to be appealed against to the master after 
 the breaking up of the divisions. The monitor was some- 
 times required to read to the divisions, and sometimes the 
 divisions to the monitor. In either case the monitor was
 
 198 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 accountable for all the mistakes allowed to pass without 
 correction. This formed a most fruitful subject of ap- 
 peals, to which the boys of the division were encouraged 
 by the arrangement, that the informant should, ipso facto, 
 take place of all in his division who had not appealed, while 
 the monitor lost to his next neighbour Avho had not made 
 the error in question. Thus the monitor's place was one 
 not less of danger than of honour ; both monitor and divi- 
 sion were kept on the alert ; every one was called upon by 
 the monitor or master, or both, to say a part of the lesson 
 of each day ; and those to whom the head of the class was 
 an inaccessible height, were excited to exert themselves to 
 attain at least the duxship of their own division, where, if 
 they continued for two days, they were elevated into that 
 next above. The monitors exchanged their divisions every 
 fortnight, after presenting to the master, in addition to the 
 daily particular returns required of them, general reports 
 containing an account of the history of their presidencies, 
 and especially a course of remarks on the proficiency and 
 behaviour of each under their superintendence, which were 
 occasionally read in public. 
 
 " The general monitor's duty was to preserve order in the 
 class, and to be the organ of all written communication be- 
 tween the master and the boys ; such as the returns of the 
 monitors, the written appeals of the divisions, the versions 
 of the class, &c. For the better discharge of the first and 
 most important of his duties, the preservation of order, his 
 seat was elevated above the rest of the class, so that he 
 had a complete view of all those under his authority. 
 When from his eminence he observed any of his fellow 
 pupils noisy or trifling, he pronounced his name aloud ; if 
 the accused were conscious of guilt, he sat still ; if he had 
 any excuse to offer, he stood up and presented it. When 
 no excuse was given, the offender's name was enrolled in 
 the poena-book, by which he was obliged to write out in a
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 199 
 
 fair hand the whole lesson of the day, in addition to the 
 business of the rest of the class. This was the plan 
 of punishment uniformly adopted in the Rector's class 
 while I attended it, in lieu of the odious system of flagella- 
 tion, a system formed to alienate the affections of the pu- 
 pil from his master, and to frustrate the very end of pun- 
 ishment, by making the sufferer the object of pity to his 
 schoolfellows, and, if he bear the infliction well, of admi- 
 ration. By the new system, the culprit is subjected to 
 a penalty much severer than a given measure of corporal 
 pain, in having the scanty hours of recreation abridged, 
 while unpitied he labours at the superadded task, the per- 
 formance of which may lay him open to be dispossessed of 
 his place ; for it was part of the office of the general moni- 
 tor, not only to announce and receive these prenas, but 
 also to correct them, and take care that for every error 
 they contained the writer should lose a place. The pun- 
 ishment was varied in proportion to the magnitude of the 
 offence ; a slight delinquent writing out one day's lesson, 
 a greater, those of two days, a week, or even a month ; 
 and it has been found, in the experience of the High School, 
 as much more effectual as it is more manly, In addition 
 to the names of those who had offended by being too late, 
 disturbing the class, or neglecting their duty, and so sub- 
 jected themselves to punishment, the poena-book contained 
 the names of absentees (from whom an excuse, signed by 
 one of their friends, was required on re-appearance in the 
 class-room), an account of the parts of various authors 
 read, and the dux, second and third, of every day. To 
 these were sometimes added a few general remarks on the 
 business and occurrences of the class. This book was in 
 the charge of the general monitor, whose power was vested 
 successively in each of the highest twenty boys for the pe- 
 riod of a fortnight, during which he was exempted, if he 
 chose, from all other scholastic duty.
 
 200 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " Exercises were written twice a-week one in school, 
 the other at home. Of those written at home the master 
 corrected the monitors' ; and the monitors, after receiving 
 their own amended, examined those of their respective 
 divisions. Those written in school were corrected entirely 
 by the master, with the aid of a few of the highest boys, 
 who assembled weekly round his tea-table. A change of 
 places always followed the delivery of an exercise. They 
 consisted chiefly of Greek, English, and Latin verses 
 translations from English to Latin, and from Latin into 
 English Latin and English themes, &c. 
 
 " But, as in so large a number of boys, there must have 
 been vast diversities of talent, and that which was suf- 
 ficient to employ many of the class was mere play to loftier 
 minds, a field was opened up for them to expatiate in by 
 the introduction of private studies. Some author was pro- 
 posed by the master, of whom those who found the ordi- 
 nary lessons too little to employ them were invited to read 
 as much as possible, and to give in an account of what they 
 had read, and the difficulties they had met with, every 
 fortnight. 1 Those who had prepared private studies were 
 then formed into divisions, distinct from the general dis- 
 tribution of the class where they were employed, under 
 the monitorial rule of the highest among them, in solving 
 each other's difficulties, and in giving proof of their bona 
 fide preparation, while the master was engaged with the 
 lower and duller parts of the class in the more elementary 
 parts of the business. They in their turn were formed 
 into divisions, while the master, by the returns of the moni- 
 tors and personal examination, ascertained the extent and 
 accuracy of the private students' preparation, and settled 
 their places accordingly. Thus, without oppressing the 
 
 1 It is almost unnecessary to remark, that in the department of private 
 studies no name presented such a formidable list of readings as that of 
 John-Brown Patterson.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 201 
 
 lowest, ample employment was opened up for the most 
 gifted of the class. 
 
 " The period of time devoted to the Latin class was four 
 hours a-day. Of these, the first hour and a half were in 
 general spent in divisions, where the business was, 1st, To 
 go over rapidly the lessons of the day before, sending the 
 names of those who failed in them to the master ; and, 2d, 
 To go rigidly over the new lessons. When sufficient time 
 had been allowed for this, the general class was convened ; 
 where appeals against the monitors were heard and dis- 
 posed of. A check was put on the abuse of the power of 
 appealing, by the ordinance, that every appellant,"if he did 
 not make good his case, should lose a place. The lessons 
 were then strictly construed in public, by such persons as 
 the master called up ; and, finally, read as freely as pos- 
 sible by the head-boy of the class. The lessons for the fol- 
 lowing day were then announced, and the class returned to 
 divisions, to give the lessons a final free construing, and to 
 be examined on the remarks made on them during the day. 
 
 " The Greek and Geography classes were conducted on 
 the same principles, making allowance for the difference of 
 time. One hour, three times a-week, was all that was 
 devoted to the language of Homer and Demosthenes. 
 There were two Greek classes, the higher and the lower ; 
 of which the higher was in divisions the first half-hour, 
 and with the master the second ; the lower was employed 
 in divisions the latter, and with the master the former, half 
 of the hour. To the Greek Testament an additional hour 
 was devoted every Monday morning. On the remaining 
 two days, the Geography class was taught chiefly by lec- 
 tures from the chair. Sketches of the different countries 
 were drawn in various crayons on black boards, on which 
 the great features of nature and cities of men were demon- 
 strated and described by the master. On finishing the 
 review of a country, the scholars were encouraged to draw
 
 202 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 maps of it. Of these, the attempts that were thought 
 worthy of the honour were framed and hung up in the 
 class-room, and employed for the instruction of divisions 
 committed to the charge of the drawers of them, as monitors. 
 " Such is a meagre outline of the picture which yet lives 
 in all its freshness in my mind. But how shall I transfer 
 to paper the rainbow-hues of delight, and the active and 
 vigorous spirit with which the original was clothed and 
 animated, and which made the hours of school and of study 
 usually the most irksome of a boy's existence those 
 which I enjoyed most when present, and looked back upon 
 with most complacency when past? Shall I attempt to 
 describe the companions who made what was delightful in 
 school and on Arthur's Seat 1 more pleasant, and what was 
 laborious and mortifying more tolerable ? Shall I sketch 
 the creator and genius of the whole admirable mechanism, 
 of which I have drawn the greater wheels and springs, 
 moulding and directing it all to its destined end ? Shall 
 I tell how he added new grace to the breathing thoughts 
 and burning words of inspired antiquity, by accumulating 
 on them the selected beauties of succeeding ages, and the 
 native flowers of his own exquisite and cultivated taste? 
 How his words would take fire at some of those 
 
 ' Starry light of genius, that diffuse 
 Through the dark depths of time their vivid flame.' 
 
 And kindle into eloquence in the cause of the muses and 
 of virtue ? How he lighted up a portion of his own enthu- 
 siasm in the breasts of his pupils ? How he united with 
 his reverence for antiquity due sentiments of honour to the 
 present ? How he could soar on Maionian wing, and yet 
 grapple patiently and successfully with the elemental dif- 
 ficulties of the humblest intellect committed to his care ? 
 How he maintained such absolute self-command, that I 
 
 1 The name of a well known hill in the immediate neighbourhood of 
 Edinburgh.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 203 
 
 never saw him discomposed in temper ? How his universal 
 kindliness softened the repelling lustre of his talents and 
 his learning ? No ! the pen cannot describe them ; but 
 they are treasured up in my heart's core. Would that they 
 may produce their legitimate effect, in leading me to pay my 
 master, patron, and friend, the best homage I can yield him, 
 the homage of a life regulated according to his desires, 
 and of a mind cultivated according to his expectations ! 
 
 " The just fame which the class acquired, attracted to 
 view it most of the natives and foreigners of distinction who 
 spent any time in Edinburgh during its session. In the 
 beginning of every quarter there was an examination of the 
 class in the presence of the friends of the master and the 
 pupils, in which the usual routine of the class was as much 
 as possible observed, where it was our master's pride to 
 exhibit our trifling feats of intellect, and ours to justify his 
 praise, and not disgrace the fame of our school. Last came 
 ' the great and important day,' when the anniversary pub- 
 lic examination took place. A few days before, the master, 
 from the records of the class and his own recollections, fixed 
 the places, accompanying the arrangement with a few words 
 of congratulation to the successful, and of comfort to the 
 disappointed. And it was wonderful to observe with what 
 good-humour all acquiesced in his decision, and how com- 
 plete an absence there was among them of any thing like 
 bad feeling. The near approach of the separation, after 
 which they should all meet no more for ever, seemed to 
 diffuse a melancholy feeling over the most thoughtless, and 
 to melt down the affections of all to the same temperament 
 of mutual regard. For days before, the voice of their sports 
 was silent in the playground, and they were seen saunter- 
 ing through it either in solitary reflection, or in groups of 
 farewell conversation. On the day before the last day we 
 should all meet in private, our beloved master took leave 
 of us by addressing to us a few sentences of recollection,
 
 204 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 reflection, and advice, and commending us to the great 
 Father of all. Next forenoon the class assembled at an 
 early hour, and sat in anxious and silent expectation until 
 the arrival of the presiding magistrates was announced, and 
 the doors thrown open to the overflowing public. The ex- 
 amination commences ; a few shots are fired in the lower 
 parts of the class, but the discharge mounts rapidly to the 
 higher regions of the line ; and before an hour or two is past. 
 the whole is confined to a rapid and red-hot interchange of 
 interrogations and answers between the examinator's bench 
 and the dux's form. The sun is descending rapidly to his 
 goal, the final question is put, and it is mute expectation 
 all ; the master announces the names and merits of the 
 successful competitors for prizes, the tumult of applause 
 begins, and, amidst its reverberated thunders, the prizes are 
 delivered, the parting speeches are made, and all is over ! 
 
 " All to me is over ! I now enter the playground, but 
 am greeted by no smile of recognition save from the hoary 
 janitor. I tread where once ' my name was rife,' but there 
 it lives no longer save on the perishable canvass. But if I 
 forget you, scenes of my youthful ambition and delight, 
 if I forget thee, my master and benefactor, if I forget you, 
 once loved companions of my studious hours, may the 
 strings of my mind be dissolved ! may ' my right hand for- 
 get her cunning ! ' Many of you still meet me in the aca- 
 demic walks ; but soon this intercourse also will have pa-si-il 
 away. Many of you are now in distant regions, and one 
 of you is gone, and another is fast going, to that remotest 
 
 and most 
 
 ' Undiscovered country, from whose bourne 
 No traveller e'er returns.' 
 
 " Perhaps we shall meet again ! 
 
 " JOHN-BROWN PATTERSON. " J 
 
 1 See the Memoir, &c., of the Kev. John-B. Patterson, M.A., vol. i. 
 pp. 29-42. Edinb. 1837.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 205 
 
 On the 30th of August 1820, Mr Carson, one of the 
 Masters of the High School, was promoted to the rector- 
 ship. He had, a few months before, been unanimously 
 elected to be Professor of Greek in the United College, St An- 
 drews, by the Senatus Academicus, who are patrons of that 
 chair. Mr Carson, it was well known, owed the proffered 
 distinction to that honourable fame which he had acquired, 
 by his long, able, and successful exertions as a teacher of 
 youth, and by his excellent character as a man ; and the 
 testimony thus publicly borne to his merits on this occasion 
 was not the less gratifying to him that it came unexpected- 
 ly and unsolicited. Mr Carson, however, to the delight of 
 the friends of the High School, respectfully declined the 
 honour thus handsomely shown him. The Town Council 
 of Edinburgh shortly after, as stated above, evinced the 
 estimation in which they regarded him, by electing him as 
 the successor of Mr Pillans. The mastership which had 
 been held by Mr Carson 1 was worthily conferred on Mr 
 Benjamin Mackay, an eminent classical teacher in the city. 2 
 
 Mr James Gray, the senior master of the school, had 
 been a candidate for the office of rector ; but, as we have 
 stated, the choice of the electors fell on one of his colleagues. 
 An arrangement, however, was then made, which it is be- 
 lieved was satisfactory to Mr Gray, though not a few 
 doubted the propriety of the step. To him exclusively was 
 now committed the teaching of Greek in this seminary. 
 He had addressed a private letter to the consideration of 
 the patrons, containing the " Sketch of a Plan for the Es- 
 tablishment of a Greek Class in the High School." With 
 the exception of an endowment of a medal by the Town 
 Council in 1814, this was the first time that the Greek 
 language was authoritatively recognized as forming part of 
 
 i On the 28th April 1826, the University of St Andrews unanimously 
 conferred on Mr Carson the degree of LL.D, 
 1 See APPENDIX, p. 108.
 
 206 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the study in the High School. The plan, which was 
 adopted merely by way of experiment, was not found to 
 work so well as was anticipated ; and, after a year's trial, 
 the Council rescinded their act, and allowed Dr Carson 
 and his colleagues to teach Greek, as they had formerly 
 done ; but in doing so, it was agreed that Mr Gray should 
 receive an annuity of 100 from the rector by way of com- 
 pensation. 1 A short time intervened till Mr Gray's scho- 
 larship secured for him the office of Principal of Belfast 
 Academy. He soon left Ireland, and subsequently became 
 one of the chaplains in the East India Company's service. 
 The reader is referred to our Appendix for additional par- 
 ticulars respecting that able and warm-hearted man. 2 
 
 Mr Gray was succeeded in Edinburgh by Mr William 
 Pyper, one of the masters of the Grammar School of Glas- 
 gow. 3 " Mr Pyper," says one of his colleagues, " though a 
 young man, had been long known for high talents and 
 accomplishments. He wrote and spoke with equal facility ; 
 and the High School owes him a debt of gratitude for the stre- 
 nuous exertions which he made to defend its interests, sup- 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. clxxxiii. pp. 171-175, and 189-197. 
 
 2 See APPENDIX, pp. 103-107. 
 
 3 There was a Grammar School in Glasgow at the early part of the 
 fourteenth century. Considerable care appears to have been taken to 
 supply it with good teachers. Occasionally the school was under the 
 control of a rector, and at other times that office was laid aside. In 
 1830, the office of rector was abolished, and each of the four classica- 
 masters had the entire charge of finishing his own scholars during 
 the four years. In 1834, this seminary was remodelled. Two of the 
 masterships for Latin and Greek have been suppressed ; and in lieu 
 
 these, teachers of English grammar, elocution, French, Italian, Ger- 
 man, writing, geography, and mathematics have been introduced, and 
 the name of the seminary has been changed to that of the High School. 
 See the New Statistical Account of Scotland, Cleland's Historical Ac- 
 count of the Grammar School of Glasgow, 1825, 8vo., and Cleland's Sta- 
 tistics of Glasgow and Lanarkshire, 1832, folio.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 207 
 
 port its fame, extend its accommodation, and have it re- 
 moved to its present salubrious and central situation." } 
 
 Reference has been made in the last paragraph to the 
 enlargement of school accommodation, and to the removal 
 of the establishment to a site more convenient for the inha- 
 bitants generally. A number of influential parties resident 
 in the New Town were of opinion, that the time had ar- 
 rived when a second school was absolutely necessary to 
 meet the demands of the inhabitants. Frequent meetings 
 took place, and conferences were held on the subject. It 
 would serve no good purpose to refer more particularly to 
 the warm public discussions which the subject occasioned. 
 Before we proceed, however, suffice it to say, that the re- 
 sult was the establishment of the Edinburgh Academy, in- 
 corporated by royal charter, 5th Geo. IV., under the super- 
 intendence of a board of fifteen directors, and the erection 
 of a building which cost the subscribers upwards of 
 14,000, raised by proprietary shares of 50 each. 2 The 
 Town Council, on the other hand, took a different view of 
 this important subject, and came to the conclusion, that if 
 the High School were placed in a more central and healthy 
 situation than Infirmary Street, the requirements of the 
 community at large would be best consulted. To the at- 
 tainment of this desirable end they now directed their 
 anxious consideration ; and with praiseworthy zeal did they 
 take steps for the accomplishment of this laudable object. 
 To this we shall have occasion to advert, after having no- 
 
 1 See APP., p. 168. 
 
 See " Minutes of the Town Council of Edinburgh, and Report of 
 the Committee respecting the proposed New High School. Ordered to 
 be printed ICth April 1823 ;" "Report of the Committee of Contribu- 
 tors to the Edinburgh Academy, April 1823 ; Statement of the Direc- 
 tors of the Edinburgh Academy, explanatory of the Scheme of that In 
 stitution, December 1823;" and the yearly Reports of the Directors of 
 that respectable seminary. .
 
 208 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ticed a few circumstances which properly fall to be intro- 
 duced in this place. 
 
 On the 7th of June 1824, the Rev. Dr Brunton, one of 
 the ministers of the city, accompanied by the college- 
 bailie and several friends of the deceased Mr Patrick 
 Philp, solicitor before the Supreme Courts in Scotland, 
 presented to the rector's class in the High School a gold 
 medal, with a chain, to be worn daily in the class by the 
 dux. The interesting circumstances which gave occasion 
 to this handsome donation, were concisely but elegantly 
 
 Juvenis illius maenui 
 
 <; - x. _ >^^~-^ 
 
 . -. 
 Honore amplissimo 
 
 -% V \ I- ,--%. v ' 
 
 VIGNETTE. The Philp gold medal. Inscription on the obverse : " u- 
 misma Philpianum, condiscipulorum duel, in classe ipsa quotidie gest- 
 andum. MDCCCXXII."
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 209 
 
 detailed to the class by Dr Brunton. William Bain gained 
 the Murray medal in the rector's class in 1809, with 
 marked applause. After continuing his career for some 
 years most successfully at the University, he was cut off 
 in the prime of his youth in the spring of 1815. His only 
 remaining relative, the late Mr Philp, who was much at- 
 tached to him, survived him but a few years ; and a short 
 period before his death, which took place on the 1 5th of 
 August 1822, he directed that his nephew's medal and 
 premium should be deposited in the library of the High 
 School, and that a medal should be presented through 
 Dr Brunton to the rector's class, to be worn as a daily 
 distinction by the dux. The Doctor observed that, in 
 the instance of William Bain gaining the medal, it had 
 been awarded to the unknown, the unfriended son of a 
 widow, merely from his merits as a scholar. This was a 
 most honourable distinction of this excellent seminary. 
 No one could ever wear or look upon this ornament with- 
 out being reminded that the honours of the High School 
 are distributed with the strictest impartiality, and without 
 drawing from this consideration, the strongest incentives to 
 vigorous exertion. Mr Carson made an appropriate reply, 
 in the name of his scholars, who appeared much inte- 
 rested and gratified on the occasion. 
 
 In the autumn of 1823, Colonel John Macdonald 1 of 
 Exeter, son of the celebrated Flora Macdonald, transmitted 
 
 1 Colonel Macdonald passed many years in the service of the H. E. I. C., 
 and attained the rank of Captain in the corps of Engineers on the Ben- 
 gal Establishment. At the close of last century he returned to Britain, 
 and was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Clan- Alpine Regi- 
 ment, and Commandant of the Royal Edinburgh Artillery. After hold- 
 ing other situations, he took up his residence at Exeter, and there he 
 died August 16, 1831, aged 72. This accomplished and amiable man 
 was the author of several works, all displaying taste and genius. His 
 knowledge of music was unusually refined, as was evinced by a most 
 scientific treatise on the philosophy of that art. (Annual Biography 
 and Obituary, vol. xvii. pp. 434-43G.) 
 
 O
 
 210 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to the Town Council the sum of fifty pounds sterling, the 
 interest of which should be assigned for the purchase of a 
 descriptive medal. The Colonel expressed his wish, that 
 at the annual examination of the school, this medal should 
 
 be presented by the Lord Provost, or one of the Magis- 
 trates, to the dux or boy at the head of the THIRD CLASS. 
 The particular period had been chosen by the benevolent 
 donor, because he had attended the High School but one 
 session, and that happened to be the third year ; that is to 
 say, when the boys in that class had gone through one half 
 of the ordinary curriculum of the seminary. Colonel Mac- 
 donald expressed his hope, that others who had been edu- 
 cated at the school would " follow the example set by his 
 late relation, Colonel Peter Macgregor Murray, in assign- 
 ing a sufficient sum in perpetuity, for affording an annual 
 prize to each of the duxes of the other classes, it being cer-
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 
 
 211 
 
 tain that the emulation thus excited cannot but be bene- 
 ficial." The Magistrates accepted, with much pleasure, the 
 trust reposed in them, and an Act of Council was passed 
 empowering and directing their successors in office to apply 
 the annual interest of fifty pounds, at five per cent., in the 
 manner pointed out ; and, in accepting Colonel Macdonald's 
 handsome donation, they intimated their conviction, that 
 it would excite an additional spirit of emulation in the boys 
 of the third class, to endeavour, by their best exertions, to 
 merit the honour intended for one of their number by a 
 gentleman possessed of such benevolent and patriotic feel- 
 ings. The Macdoncdd Medal was presented for the first 
 time in 1824. 1 
 
 The executors of the late Mr Ritchie intimated to the 
 corporation on the 27th August 1823, that he had be- 
 queathed the sum of one hundred guineas, to be sunk in 
 the funds of the city at five per cent., and that the interest 
 was to be expended upon a gold medal, to be presented 
 
 1 For a List of the Macdonald Medallists, see APP., p. 147, el seq.
 
 212 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 annually to the dux of the class of which he had been 
 master, and which was then taught by his successor, Mi- 
 Lindsay. The principal and professors of the University 
 of Edinburgh were appointed trustees. The medal, which 
 was first presented in 1824, will thus be the means of per- 
 petuating the name of the excellent man by whom it was 
 endowed. On the one side of the medal are the city arms, 
 and on the reverse, represented on the preceding page, an 
 elegant Latin inscription, intimating that ' This prize was 
 founded by William Ritchie, a distinguished master, for 
 twenty-three years, in the High School of Edinburgh, that 
 he might continue, even after his death, to cherish in 
 youthful minds that love of study which it had been the 
 business of his life to inspire.' l 
 
 On the 25th April 1825, at the great entertainment given 
 in Edinburgh to Mr (now Lord) Brougham, he thus spoke 
 of the High School : 
 
 " In this town it was, as was truly observed by our worthy 
 chairman, 2 that I first imbibed the principles of a liberal Scottish 
 education ; and it is fit that I should tell you, as many of you may 
 not have heard what I have frequently told to others, in other 
 places, and in other meetings, that I have seen no other plan of 
 education so efficient as that which is established in this city. 
 With great experience and opportunity of observation, I certainly 
 have never yet seen any one system so well adapted for training 
 up good citizens, as well as learned and virtuous men, as the Old 
 High School of Edinburgh and the Scottish Universities. Great 
 improvements, no doubt, may and will be made, even in these 
 seminaries. But what I have to say of the High School of Edin- 
 burgh, and say as the ground of the preference I give it over 
 others, and even over another academy, lately established in this 
 city, on what is said to be a more improved principle what 1 
 say is this that such a school is altogether invaluable in a free 
 
 1 See AFP. pp. 151, 152, for a list of the Ritchie medallists, 
 
 2 The present Lord Cockbuni,
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 213 
 
 state in a state, having higher objects in view, by the education 
 of its youth, than a mere knowledge of the Latin and Greek 
 languages and the study of prosody. That in a state like this, 
 higher objects should be kept in view, there can be no doubt ; 
 though I confess I have passed much of my time in these studies 
 myself. Yet a school like the Old High School of Edinburgh is 
 invaluable, and for what is it so ? It is because men of the high- 
 est and lowest rank of society, send their children to be educated 
 together. The oldest friend I have in the world, your worthy 
 vice-president 1 and myself were at the High School of Edinburgh 
 together, and in the same class along with others who still possess 
 our friendship, and some of them in a rank of life still higher than us . 
 One of them was a nobleman, who is now in the House of Peers ; 
 and some of them were sons of shopkeepers in the lowest part 
 of the Cowgate of Edinburgh shops of the most inferior descrip- 
 tion and one or two of them were sons of menial servants in the 
 town. There they were sitting side by side, giving and taking 
 places from each other, without the slightest impression on the 
 part of my noble friends of any superiority on their parts to the 
 other boys, or any ideas of inferiority on the part of the other 
 boys to them ; and this is my reason for preferring the Old High 
 School of Edinburgh to other, and what may be termed more 
 patrician, schools, however well regulated or conducted." 
 
 Several central situations had been pointed out for the 
 erection of a new School, such as the ground opposite to 
 Princes Street ; and the Excise Office (now the Royal Bank) 
 in St Andrew Square. At length the magistrates fixed 
 on a sloping bank of the Gallon Hill, to the east of the 
 Baxters' or Millers' Knowe. This decision of the Corpora- 
 tion became the subject of much discussion. The objec- 
 tions, however, raised against the Gallon Hill as not suf- 
 ficiently central, were soon overruled ; and even those who 
 opposed the measure were soon satisfied that the selection 
 of this spot was remarkably judicious. The approach is 
 
 1 The late Lord Douglas Gordon Halyburtou of Pitcur, M.P.
 
 214 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 both spacious and comparatively little frequented ; and the 
 site had the peculiar recommendation, that it is equally 
 convenient for the New Town and the Old. Before giving 
 a description of the building it may be proper more particu- 
 larly to advert to the locality which it now adorns. For 
 the health of the pupils, and the extensive and interesting 
 landscape, no situation around the metropolis is superior. 
 On the summit of this hill too, are several specimens of 
 art worthy of the objects for which they have been raised. 
 The most conspicuous is that intended to perpetuate the 
 splendid services of the hero of Trafalgar, and meant to 
 excite to patriotic deeds. Adjacent are the royal observa- 
 tory, and the unfinished national monument in honour of 
 the victory of Waterloo. Neither must we forget the ap- 
 propriately tasteful cenotaphs, as public homage to the 
 poetic genius of Kobert Burns, the scientific celebrity of 
 John Playfair, and the philosophic charms of Dugald 
 Stewart. The old portion of the city on the gradually 
 sloping ridge which extends from the towering castle on 
 the west, to the ancient palace of Holyrood on the east, 
 with the semicircular range of precipitous rocks of Salis- 
 bury Crags, and the peak of Arthur's Seat, are seen most 
 advantageously. Altogether, the prospect here, as well as 
 from other points, is so peculiarly striking and pictur- 
 esque, that it cannot fail indelibly to impress upon the 
 minds of our youth the natural beauties of Edinburgh, and 
 that too in intimate connexion with subjects of deep his- 
 torical interest. 
 
 The ceremony of laying the foundation took place on 
 the 28th of July 1825 with great pomp and display. The 
 scene bore a strong resemblance to that which the city 
 exhibited three years before on the day when George the 
 Fourth was welcomed to his northern capital. The dif- 
 ferent public bodies intended to form the procession assem- 
 bled at the High School Yards in Infirmary Street, and
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 215 
 
 were arranged according to the programme published by 
 authority. The bell of St Giles' announced that the pro- 
 cession was about to move. At Waterloo Place, the pro- 
 cession was joined by a number of distinguished individuals. 
 It then wheeled slowly round the base of the Calton Hill, 
 the various bands playing martial airs. The arrangements 
 at the site were calculated to accommodate a great num- 
 ber of spectators. A temporary quadrangular structure of 
 wood was formed so as to dip progressively towards the 
 centre, where tables, covered with green cloth, were placed 
 for the use of the office-bearers of the Grand Lodge, and 
 of the Magistrates. The young gentlemen of the School, 
 on approaching, diverged to their appointed seats. The 
 high constables formed behind the boys, at the north side 
 of the platform. The Senatus Academicus, clergy, the 
 rector, and masters, took their stations on the south side. 
 The Lord Provost (HENDERSON) and magistrates, the 
 sheriff, and several official gentlemen, took their station on 
 the west side ; the other gentlemen and the Calton con- 
 stables formed on the hill behind them. The Grand Lodge 
 took their station on the east side, the other lodges forming 
 behind. 
 
 The ceremony commenced by the band playing an an- 
 them. The most profound silence pervaded the vast as- 
 sembly whilst the Rev. Dr Brunton, one of the ministers 
 of the city, implored the Divine blessing on the under- 
 taking. 1 
 
 1 Through the kindness of my venerable friend and co-presbyter, the 
 Rev. Dr Brunton, I have been furnished with the appropriate and beau- 
 tifully expressed prayer above referred to, and subjoin those paragraphs 
 bearing on the occasion : 
 
 " Grant thy blessing, Almighty God, on the seminaries of useful 
 learning with which our country abounds. In all of them, may the 
 teachers and the taught be taught of Thee. 
 
 " Bless that seminary, in an especial manner, whose concerns have 
 now assembled us. Establish its duration and increase its usefulness.
 
 216 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Two glass cases containing specimens of the current coin 
 of the realm, twelve Edinburgh newspapers, and an Edin- 
 burgh almanack ; as also three plates, one with an inscrip- 
 tion in Latin intimating the removal of the school to the 
 present site, and the names of the teachers. The second 
 plate contained the names of the magistrates and council of 
 Edinburgh ; and on the third were the names of the Grand 
 Lodge of Scotland. 
 
 These tablets having been placed in a cavity in the stone 
 prepared for them, another stone was lowered down upon 
 them, and fastened with four screw bolts. The usual 
 masonic formalities were then gone through, VISCOUNT 
 
 GLENORCHY (nOW MARQUESS of BREAD ALBANE) officiating 
 
 as Grand Master, assisted by the Grand Wardens. 
 
 LORD GLENORCHY then addressed the Lord Provost. He said 
 he had performed the ceremony of laying the stone according to 
 masonic rule. He trusted that the edifice, the foundation stone 
 of which had been laid under the auspices of the Lord Provost, 
 would prosper ; that it would rise as an ornament, while it would 
 confer everlasting blessings on the city and the nation. The 
 craft appeared there as assisting at the ceremonial, but it had a 
 greater object in view hi all its ceremonies that all things may 
 
 "Within the walls which are here to rise, may thine own presence be re- 
 alized ; and thy blessing felt abundantly. May the names of many who 
 shall here be trained adorn the annals of their country ; may the names 
 of all be written in the Book of Life. Here may they be trained who 
 are to maintain their country's liberty, to administer their country's 
 laws, to bring healing to the sick, and the glad tidings of the gospel 
 to the poor. Here may they be trained whose intelligence is to adorn 
 the intercourse of life, and whose virtues are to bless the domestic circle. 
 Here may attainments be made, which purify while they enlighten. 
 Here may friendships be formed, which shall gladden time and eternity. 
 May many an age have cause to bless the structure which we are found- 
 ing ; and many a heart to throb with grateful remembrance at its name. 
 May it adorn our dwelling, long after we have ceased to behold it ; and 
 when the hands that rear it are cold in the dust, may there be here a 
 seed to serve Thee."
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 217 
 
 be regulated for the welfare of mankind. The education of 
 youth must ever call for the most anxious attention there 
 could not be a greater blessing to a country than to have its se- 
 minaries properly established and conducted; and there could 
 not be a greater evil than to have these conducted on con- 
 tracted or illiberal principles. The enlargement of the High 
 School, which had existed in its present form and situation 
 so long, would add another to the many ornaments of our 
 city ; and he trusted that the same system which had been fol- 
 lowed in the Old High School, would be preserved in the New Se- 
 minary in all its purity. If such were the case, future ages 
 would see men arise distinguished for their talents as statesmen, 
 and lawyers, and heroes, and go forth as the lights of their coun- 
 try such as those who had been educated at the Old High 
 School. His Lordship then congratulated the Provost on the 
 liberality of sentiment which had distinguished the councils of 
 the city, by which a new character had been given to the magis- 
 tracy. He fondly trusted that those who would succeed his 
 Lordship in office would follow the same course : when the city 
 would be sure to prosper for ages to come. 
 
 An anthem followed, after which the LORD PROVOST replied 
 in the following terms : 
 
 Most Worshipful Grand Master, On the part of my brethren 
 in the magistracy and council, I beg leave to express the high 
 satisfaction we feel at having been honoured by the attendance 
 of so respectable a body of the Grand Lodge, and our gratitude 
 for the share which your Lordship has taken in the ceremony of 
 this day, as well as on the very handsome manner in which your 
 Lordship has adverted to the exertions we have made for the 
 embellishment and improvement of the metropolis of Scotland. 
 Among all our efforts to promote the best interests of the city, 
 there is no object that has more engaged our attention than the 
 selection of a situation better adapted than the present High 
 School for accommodating the numerous youth in the royalty 
 and suburbs, for whom their parents are anxious to obtain the 
 benefits of classical education in an institution which has existed 
 for three hundred years with distinguished reputation. By the 
 advice of those who appeared to us most capable of judging, we 
 have been guided to the spot that has been fixed as the most
 
 218 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 suitable upon the whole ; and whatever else may be said of it, 
 surely it cannot be denied that it possesses the advantage of 
 free and salubrious air. We trust, also, that instead of deform- 
 ing this much-admired hill, the building proposed to be erected 
 will form one of the finest pictures in the scene, and will accord 
 well with the natural beauties of the place, and with the other 
 edifices which are soon to be reared in the vicinity. We cannot 
 allow ourselves to apprehend that the aid of the public will be 
 withheld from the accomplishment of the scheme ; and we hope 
 there is no presumption in considering the countenance we have 
 this day received as a favourable omen of ultimate success. 
 
 An anthem was then played, and the whole ceremony con- 
 cluded with three hearty cheers, in which the boys of the High 
 School joined with hearty good-will, waving their white wands 
 overhead like spears in a battle field. These boys, upwards of 
 six hundred in number, handsomely and almost uniformly dressed, 
 formed perhaps the most interesting part of the spectacle. The 
 procession, in departing, moved off in the reverse order of that 
 in which it approached the site. 
 
 At a public entertainment on the same day, the Lord 
 Provost in the chair, supported on the right by the Earl of 
 Fife, and Lord Abercromby on the left, many excellent 
 speeches bearing on the occasion were delivered. Short ex- 
 tracts from some of those speeches may gratify the reader. 
 
 SOLICITOR-GENERAL HoPE 1 said, It was of the utmost mo- 
 ment to the citizens of Edinburgh that the High School should 
 be maintained upon the same liberal footing which had existed 
 for such a length of time a change of situation, from the alter- 
 ation in the circumstances of the city, was loudly called for. 
 The High School was particularly calculated to inspire the young 
 mind with a foretaste of the blessings which are to be derived 
 from our free constitution. It was there where the proud cha- 
 racteristics of Britons was fully exemplified its classes were 
 open to boys of all ranks and circumstances. It proved what 
 was the use of a school in a free state, it was not birth, rank, 
 
 1 Now Lord Justice-Clerk.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 219 
 
 or fortune, that in this country could reach the highest place 
 but talent, perseverance, and industry.. In that school there 
 was no place to which the most humble might not aspire, and, if 
 possessed of talent, not obtain. 
 
 LORD ABERCROMBY spoke as follows: The proceedings of 
 this day were highly creditable to those whose business it was to 
 watch over the interests of the citizens. The ceremony itself 
 had been performed in a manner that reflected the highest honour 
 upon those who had conducted it ; and the magistrates, as guard- 
 ians of the public interest, particularly as patrons of the public 
 seminaries of this place, were entitled to the thanks of the com- 
 munity. For, under their auspices, the High School of Edin- 
 burgh had flourished as a public seminary for centuries, and 
 would continue to flourish, while the same care was exercised in 
 the selection of the gentlemen who should fill the office of 
 teachers, while men of talents continued to officiate in the 
 school. The magistrates had done wisely in looking to the ex- 
 ample of their predecessors, when making provision for the dif- 
 fusion of education ; and if public works did not entitle public 
 men to public thanks, he really did not know what could entitle 
 a man to public approbation. 
 
 The LORD PROVOST having spoken in highest terms of appro- 
 bation of the teachers of the school, Dr CARSON returned thanks 
 in name of his colleagues, in a very neat and eloquent address, 
 remarking that it would rather be improper in them to make 
 professions, but if stimulus was awanting, the scenes which 
 they had witnessed in the course of the day, as well as the rank 
 and talent now assembled, afforded more than a sufficient supply. 
 In all seminaries it was of the utmost consequence that the ac- 
 cess should be easy that all ranks might thereby enjoy the be- 
 nefits of education. It must therefore be of the utmost import- 
 ance to preserve an institution, which had existed for three hun- 
 dred years under the patronage of the magistrates, who had 
 exercised their prerogative in a manner that entitled them to the 
 lasting gratitude of their fellow-citizens, and the country at 
 large. 
 
 The EARL OF FIFE, in a speech oT considerable length, and de- 
 livered with great animation, remarked upon the beneficial ten- 
 dency of public schools on the habits of children. He also no-
 
 220 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ticed that the High School had been called into existence in the 
 most troublesome times those of Queen Mary and James VI., 
 at a time when king, nobles, ministers of religion, and the great 
 body of the people were all at variance one with another. 
 
 The LORD REGISTER DUNDAS said, that it was at the Old 
 High School where he was educated and he had not yet forgot 
 the lessons there taught. They still adhered to him amidst the 
 bustle of a busy life, combined with many a fond recollection of 
 the beauties of the Roman historian Livy, and of the melodious 
 verse of Virgil. He was anxious that the youth of the city the 
 rising generation should have the same advantages. The 
 young mind was thus early taught habits of attention and correct 
 thinking, which, while it cultivated the understanding, tended 
 to improve the heart. 
 
 The Chairman, having passed a high eulogium upon the clergy 
 of our country, gave ' The Moderator and the Church of Scotland.' 
 
 The Rev. Dr GEORGE COOK returned thanks in name of that 
 body who had been so handsomely noticed from the chair. The 
 clergy of Scotland, he said, would feel gratified for what had 
 been done that day for the interests of education. That body 
 were deeply interested in the good of their country, and it was 
 impossible for them not to feel a particular interest in all that 
 related to the High School, a seminary which had ever been 
 distinguished for the zeal and diligence of its teachers, and for 
 the eminence of its scholars. Of the propriety of having addi- 
 tional schools, he thought, there could be no question, but this 
 was what might be called the national metropolitan school of 
 Scotland, and as its means of accommodation were increased, so 
 would be its usefulness. 
 
 PROFESSOR WILSON said, they had that day witnessed a cere- 
 mony which, without any exaggeration, might be described as 
 impressive the laying of the foundation-stone of a building for 
 the instruction of our youth, where they would receive the rudi- 
 ments of that education which should render them illustrious in 
 after-life, both as useful citizens and as members of a free 
 state. He was proud to say, that in every strath of our country 
 there was a parish school, unneeded perhaps by the passing tra- 
 veller, but under whose humble roof the elements of that know- 
 ledge was conveyed, which so materially contributed to exalt our
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 221 
 
 national character. Than the teachers, there was, perhaps, no 
 class of men who were more meanly endowed, at least as far as 
 regarded the possession of worldly wealth ; but there was no 
 class of men who possessed such a rich abundance of the gifts of 
 nature. By their zealous endeavours, the light of knowledge 
 had been so diffused, that in whatever aspect we beheld our 
 poor, it afforded us the highest feelings of satisfaction. It was 
 possible, indeed, that in some remote parts of our own country 
 there might be some dark spots, but he could safely say, that we 
 had striven to keep our equality with more favoured nations : and 
 we had done it alone by that system of education which sprung 
 from a great national movement. Knowledge was not confined 
 to the higher classes ; like a living spirit it pervaded the whole 
 mass, and served to restrain youth from many of those tempta- 
 tions to which they were most prone. In this country, he might 
 say, there was a general desire a passion for knowledge ; so that, 
 when the philanthropist spoke to our working classes, he spoke 
 to them in a language which they understood, and which they 
 had been familiar with from their cradle. They had been taught 
 to consider knowledge as their birth-right, which neither pain 
 nor pleasure should take away. To the parish schoolmasters 
 were entrusted the formation of their character. Considering 
 this, we must heave some sighs for the poverty in which they are 
 placed. During the few years in which he had prelected at the 
 University, he had met with some honourable and ingenious men, 
 parish schoolmasters, who had come, as they said, to finish their 
 education. But from conversations which he had with them, he 
 felt willing to lay aside the character of a teacher and become a 
 pupil. The Professor concluded with giving, ' The parish school- 
 masters of Scotland.' 
 
 PROFESSOR PILLAXS, on his health being proposed, said, he 
 might be allowed to lay claim to a warm attachment to the 
 High School, from the double relation in which he had stood 
 to that seminary, first as a pupil, and then as a master. 
 He, therefore, cordially sympathized with those feelings of re- 
 gard which had been so liberall expressed. He could not 
 help referring to one principle of its constitution he meant 
 the mixture of ranks. And he would say, if there was one 
 class of boys more distinguished for laborious diligence than
 
 222 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 another, it was those who came from the lower and middling 
 classes. He would appeal to his successor if such was not the 
 case, and ask, if there could be a greater pleasure to a teacher 
 than to see a youth, unbefriended by fortune, toiling up the steep 
 that leads to mmortal fame? Frequent application had been 
 made by foreigners to the heads of the establishment, to obtain 
 the details by which it was conducted. A very sensible Ameri- 
 can, 1 some time since on a visit to this country, was so struck with 
 the simplicity of its arrangements, that he requested to be fur- 
 nished with its details, and established a seminary on the same 
 principle in the city of New York. It was attended by 630 
 boys, and the school was likely to be sought after by a greater 
 number than it could contain. In allusion to the subject of ac- 
 commodation, he could not help expressing his satisfaction, after 
 having looked at the ground plan, of the facilities the proposed 
 edifice afforded for monitorial education, which was attended 
 with the most important results. 
 
 The building itself, though occupying a prominently ele- 
 vated site, is yet completely sheltered from the northern 
 blasts. It is the design of Mr THOMAS HAMILTON, a pupil 
 of the school ; and the edifice, whether taken externally or 
 internally, is worthy of the talents and established reputa- 
 tion of the architect. The school stands on a terrace of 
 considerable height above the London Eoad, from which 
 the varied outline of its architecture is advantageously 
 seen, and must attract notice and admiration. Both ends 
 of the main building admit two stories of class rooms, but 
 the several apartments of the central portion thereof occupy 
 its whole height, by which adjustment a separate and easy 
 access to the Hall and all the class rooms, &c., has been 
 effected ; while the saving of expense, which accrued from 
 this adjustment of level, must have been considerable, as 
 the entire site, not only of the building, but the spacious 
 area around it, was actually cut out of the solid rock, 
 
 See p. 193.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 223 
 
 the quantity of which it is believed exceeded seventy thou- 
 sand cubic yards. 
 
 The terrace in front is elevated fully ten feet above the 
 public road, while the playground behind is about twenty 
 feet, the communication between these levels being gained 
 by easy flights of steps. 
 
 The centre portico is hexastyle, and having a double 
 range of columns, projects considerably in front of the ge- 
 neral faade. This distinctive feature of the building is of 
 the purest Grecian Doric, the general proportions and 
 most minute details of the celebrated Athenian temple of 
 Theseus having been closely adhered to. The peristyles, 
 each consisting of six smaller Doric columns with corres- 
 ponding entablatures, extend from the great portico to the 
 extreme compartments of the building at either end, thus 
 forming spacious corridors of communication between the 
 Hall and the several class rooms ; so that this fa9ade pre- 
 sents a very imposing effect of light and shadow. The 
 columns, including those of the two smaller temples form- 
 ing the wings, amount to twenty-eight in number, those of 
 the portico being upwards of twenty feet high, those of the 
 corridors fifteen feet, and those of the wings twelve feet. 
 The leading features of the extreme portions of the main 
 building are derived from the monument of Thrasyllus, 
 having the antae and entablature somewhat similar, but 
 without that strict adherence to the proportions of the ori- 
 ginal which has been observed in the portico. The length 
 of the main building is nearly two hundred and seventy 
 feet, being fifteen feet longer than the principal front of the 
 University of Edinburgh ; but if the temples or lodges 
 which contain the Writing and Mathematical class rooms 
 on the right hand of the accompanying engraving, and the 
 Janitor's lodge on the left hand be included, there is an 
 architectural composition extending upwards of four hun- 
 dred feet. A reference to the Elevation of the School,
 
 224 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 forming the frontispiece, and to the Ground Plan, will 
 enable the reader to form a clearer conception of the 
 elegant symmetry of the edifice as a whole, and the 
 ample accommodation which has been furnished for the 
 healthful prosecution of study. The Plan facing this page, 
 though on a small scale, is very accurate, and shows 
 the whole accommodation, except the second floor of the 
 extremities of the main building, which, being precisely 
 similar to the ground story, it was unnecessary to repeat. 
 The Hall, a splendid and well-proportioned apartment, 
 occupies the centre, and is seventy-five feet by forty-three, 
 and upwards of thirty feet high. On one side, and com- 
 municating with it, are the rector's rooms, consisting of one 
 about thirty-three feet by thirty-eight, another thirty feet 
 by sixteen, a third eighteen feet by eighteen, besides a pri- 
 vate room. On the other side of the Hall are the library, 
 and other apartments. The greater part of the body of 
 the Hall is intended for the classes, the patrons, and ex- 
 aminers, when assembled on public occasions, such as 
 exhibitions. On each side of the Hall, for the accom- 
 modation of strangers, is a gallery, the front of which is 
 subdivided into a number of pannels. It has been sug- 
 gested, that the name of the dux for each year since the 
 opening of this school, should be legibly inscribed on these 
 pannels. 
 
 The extremities of the main building are occupied with 
 the teaching apartments of the four classical masters, each 
 of whom has a principal room about thirty-eight feet by 
 twenty-eight ; one twenty-three feet by sixteen, and also 
 a private room. The building and playground l occupy an 
 extent of two acres, completely protected both from the hill 
 and the road in front, by a wall and iron rail. 
 
 1 In a pavilion erected in the eastern portion of the enclosed area of 
 the High School, the national entertainment was givi-u t J the late Right 
 Hon. Charles Earl Grc-y, in Sqjtemuer 1S34. 

 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 225 
 
 Through, the agency of Viscount Melville, who was edu- 
 cated at the High School, the handsome donation of Five 
 hundred pounds, was received from George the Fourth, as 
 his Majesty's contribution in aid of the erection of the build- 
 ing. This princely sum, in furtherance of an object so 
 exceedingly laudable, was bestowed as a token of royal 
 favour towards a school which, as a royal foundation, had 
 conferred for ages incalculable benefits on the community. 
 Such marks of a sovereign's recognition of our ancient, re- 
 spectable, and efficient great public schools, will, we are 
 persuaded, be attended with the happiest results : and he 
 who, from his position in society, can secure for such use- 
 ful seminaries his sovereign's fostering patronage, performs 
 no mean service to his country. " I think it would be 
 well, says Dr Arnold, " on public grounds, to confer what 
 may be considered analogous to a peerage conferred on 
 some of the wealthiest commoners, or to a silk gown be- 
 stowed on distinguished lawyers, when schools had risen 
 from a very humble origin to a considerable place in the 
 country, and had continued for some time, some royal gift, 
 however small, should be bestowed upon them, merely as a 
 sort of recognition or confirmation, on the part of the Crown, 
 of the courtesy rank which they had acquired already. I 
 have always believed that one of the simplest and most 
 effectual means of improving the foundation schools 
 throughout the country, would be to hold out the hope of 
 some mark of encouragement from the Crown, as they 
 might happen to deserve it." ' 
 
 1 Stanley's Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, D.D., late 
 Head-Master of Rugby School, vol. i. p. 112, 6th edit., Lond. 1845. The 
 mark of royal favour alluded to in the above extract, has now been be- 
 stowed on Rugby, her Majesty having founded an annual prize of a 
 gold medal. This is precisely as it ought to be ; and we humbly think, 
 that some other seminaries, if represented in high quarters as they 
 deserve, would doubtless obtain a like permanent distinction. 
 
 P
 
 226 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 On the 18th of July 1827, the town-council announced 
 to* the public an improved course of study, which had been 
 suggested by the rector and masters. The official account 
 is as follows : 
 
 In enacting the new regulations, the patrons have been actu- 
 ated by the view of increasing the advantages which this institu- 
 tion holds out to the youth of this city, and of the country at 
 large. 
 
 In framing the plan, two leading objects have been kept in 
 view \ first, to introduce into this ancient and celebrated 
 seminary, such additional branches, as, without interfering in 
 the slightest degree with the leading department of study 
 CLASSICAL LITERATURE should serve, still farther, to expand the 
 mind, refine the taste, and extend the knowledge of the pupil ; 
 and secondly, to preserve the fees within the moderate limits 
 which ought to characterise a great national establishment. These 
 objects, the patrons conceive, will be completely obtained under 
 the new arrangements. 
 
 The classes for General Knowledge, embracing English Litera- 
 ture, History, and Geography, conducted by the classical masters, 
 and extended over a space of four years, cannot fail to prove of 
 the most essential benefit to the intellectual improvement of the 
 pupil and serve agreeably to diversify, without sensibly augment- 
 ing, the labour of his classical studies. The same remark is ap- 
 plicable to the French. By introducing that language at an early 
 stage, and devoting to it a small portion of time during a series of 
 years, the pupil will be enabled to obtain, at a trifling expense, a 
 very important acquisition, which might not otherwise have been 
 placed within his reach. 
 
 The admirable accommodation in the new school, now 
 erecting, will greatly facilitate the practical operation of the im- 
 proved system, by enabling the masters to adapt their instruc- " 
 tions to the diversified talents of the pupils, and to turn every 
 moment of time to the best possible account. 
 
 By an equitable modification of the charges for writing and 
 arithmetic, and by abolishing the Candlemas Fee, and other 
 small payments, the important branches which have been intro- 
 duced, will make very little addition to the present aggregate ex-
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 227 
 
 pense of the school ; while to the pupil who confines himself to 
 the strictly classical course with writing and arithmetic, the ex- 
 pense will be considerably diminished. 
 
 It may be proper to remark, that attendance on the additional 
 classes is, as it has always been on those of writing and arith- 
 metic, entirely optional ; thus securing to the public, in all these 
 branches, the benefits of free and unfettered competition. , 
 
 The establishment of a separate class for arithmetic, and the 
 elements of mathematics, is prospectively contemplated, and will 
 be carried into effect as soon as circumstances permit. 
 
 In conclusion, the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council, con- 
 ceive themselves justified in stating, that in point of simplicity 
 and efficiency of system, moderation of fee and excellence of ac- 
 commodation, the High School of Edinburgh will bear an advan- 
 tageous comparison with any classical seminary in the Empire." 
 
 In November 1828 the High School was deprived by 
 death, in his 65th year, of Mr Andrew M'Kean, the esti- 
 mable and successful teacher of arithmetic and writing. 
 The College committee having, along with the rector and 
 masters, maturely considered in what manner arithmetic 
 and the elements of mathematics and writing ought in fu- 
 ture to be taught, gave it as their unanimous and decided 
 opinion, that the mode recommended by the council in 
 their minute of 12th July 1827, should be adopted. It 
 was at that time proposed, that, whenever a vacancy 
 should occur in the office of writing-master, on the demise 
 of Mr M'Kean, or as soon as circumstances appeared to 
 call for such a measure, that the council should sepa- 
 rate the writing and arithmetic entirely, and institute a 
 teacher of the latter, combined with the elements of ma- 
 thematics. 1 The patrons now acted on this resolution. 
 Mr Alexander M'Kean, who had long assisted his father, 
 succeeded him as writing master ; and Mr Walter Nichol, 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. cciv. p. 321.
 
 228 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 an eminent teacher in town, was elected arithmetical and 
 mathematical master. 
 
 The last annual examination in the school-house 1 at 
 the foot of Infirmary Street took place in the autumn 
 of 1828. Associations of the most interesting descrip- 
 tion were connected with that identical locality ; for 
 thither the successive youth of the metropolis, for more 
 than two hundred and seventy years had chiefly repaired 
 for the acquisition of classical learning. At the close of 
 the examination, in the presence of a large and respectable 
 assemblage, the Lord Provost having complimented both 
 masters and scholars on the admirable manner in which 
 the duties of the day had been gone through, Professor 
 Pillans, as one of the examiners, followed in like laudatory 
 strains, and avowed it as his decided opinion, that the 
 pupils of the High School could not be surpassed by any 
 equal number of youth of the same age in any part of the 
 empire. The learned professor feelingly alluded to those 
 local associations which, to his mind, hallowed the place 
 in which they were then assembled. " The spot and the 
 occasion," said he, " forcibly recall to my mind, as they 
 must do to many who hear me, the mild and paternal 
 aspect of Dr Adam, my venerable predecessor, who, for 
 forty years, had devoted himself so ably, conscientiously, 
 and enthusiastically to the improvement of youth ; they 
 remind me of the companions of my youthful studies, some 
 of whom have, too soon for their country, already gone to 
 their place of rest, leaving a long train of inextinguishable 
 glory behind them ; and others still remain to be the blessing 
 and admiration of their country; finally, they remind me 
 of the happy years I spent here as a teacher, in humbly 
 imitating the zeal and devotedness of my own preceptor. 
 
 1 The old High School buildings and surrounding area were sold for 
 L.7,500 to the Managers of the Royal Infirmary ; and the school-house 
 has been by them converted into an hospital.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 229 
 
 It may appear to some too great stretch of sentimentality 
 to talk with much tenderness of bidding these walls an 
 everlasting adieu, since after all it is but the stone and 
 lime which we are about to part with. I rejoice to think 
 that under a roof more worthy of its eminence, the school 
 will still survive the masters who have proved themselves 
 so fit for the task, will still preside and the same system be 
 continued in a situation better adapted for carrying it into 
 effect, and still richer in local associations, where the youth- 
 ful eye cannot open without resting either on some of the 
 noblest features of our own beautiful and romantic town, 
 or on the monuments, still, I hope, to be increased in 
 number, of those who, by their talents and industry, had 
 raised themselves to distinction in all the various depart- 
 ments of honourable exertion ; and where the youthful 
 mind will thus be stirred up to emulate their fame in 
 literature, science, and public virtue, and to bequeath like 
 them an imperishable name." 
 
 Mr George Irvine, long an acceptable teacher, resigned his 
 situation in the summer of 1829. The magistrates and 
 town-council, on the unanimous recommendation of the 
 College committee, by a majority of twenty-eight to 
 one, elected Dr James Boyd, house-governor of George 
 Heriot's Hospital, to the classical mastership in the High 
 School, vacant by the resignation of Mr Irvine. Dr Boyd 
 had fulfilled the delicate and important duties of the 
 noble foundation over which he had presided four years, 
 with such ability and integrity that his character was well 
 known to the citizens of Edinburgh. Mr Irvine received 
 from his successor an annuity of L.I 00, during the last 
 four years of his life. 1 
 
 From a poem entitled " A Valedictory to the Old High 
 School," written at this time by one of the pupils, we 
 transfer to our pages a few stanzas : 
 1 See APP. p. 107.
 
 230 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Farewell ! thou sacred venerable pile, 
 Thou long hast stood our glory and renown ; 
 
 Thy halls no more shall see the school-boy smile, 
 Or tremble at the master's angry frown. 
 
 Farewell ! and yet I heave a tender sigh, 
 The past while memory travels o'er, 
 
 The scenes presenting to my mental eye, 
 Which thou, alas ! must now behold no more. 
 
 No more about thy walks shall striplings sport ; 
 
 Thy halls no more resound the classic lay ; 
 A numerous band no more shall fill thy court, 
 
 ' "When toil relaxing lends its turn to play.' 
 
 The time shall come, when thou, O heavenly muse, 
 The sweet companions of my idle hours, 
 
 Shalt cease ecstatic raptures to infuse, 
 In Spring's gay morn, or Summer's evening bowers. 
 
 But thou ! who long hast stood Edina's pride, 
 And still remain'st to tell of what is past, 
 
 Shalt never from my faithful memory slide, 
 Till this my panting frame hath breathed its last. 
 
 What though thy ancient glory now is fled, 
 And quite deserted though thy halls appear, 
 
 Perhaps, the stranger viewing thee may shed, 
 With filial awe, a reverential tear : 
 
 Perhaps, may tell his son, that here his days 
 Of youth and boyhood pleasantly were past ; 
 
 That here he learned to tread in wisdom's ways, 
 That here his mind in heavenly mould was cast. 
 
 And O may she, thy blooming daughter fair, 
 Enshrined in majesty, on Cal ton's height, 
 
 Thy glorious name, and well-earned honours share, 
 And shed around the world fair learning's light. 
 
 Yes ! she, when thou hast crumbled into dust, 
 And nought but ruins tell where thou hast been ; 
 
 Yes ! she, prophetic hope may boldly trust, 
 Shall still shine forth in majesty serene.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 231 
 
 Still from her fostering womb shall sons arise, 
 Adorned with wisdom, and with virtue's lore ; 
 
 To strike the admiring world with mute surprise, 
 And rival all the mighty shades of yore. 
 
 But cease, my muse : such flights thy power transcend ; 
 
 A resting place befits thy weary wing ; 
 On Calton's summit do thou first descend, 
 
 And there, behold a work that thou mayst sing. 
 
 JOHN I. C. LOCKHART, 1829. 
 
 The completion of the noble edifice on the Calton Hill 
 having been intimated by the architect to the Patrons, they 
 resolved that the new school should be opened on the 23d 
 of June 1829, with all the pomp and circumstance usual on 
 such occasions. All classes of the community evinced the 
 utmost desire to be present on a day at once so memorable 
 and so interesting. This was what might have been look- 
 ed for, if we reflect on the nature and objects of this ancient, 
 celebrated, and truly excellent institution, the recollections 
 which it was calculated to awaken in the mind as a great 
 national school, in which so many illustrious men imbibed 
 the first elements of classical learning ; and the still more 
 endearing associations connected with it as a modern semi- 
 nary, to which was to be committed, in sacred trust, the 
 literary and moral instruction of the rising generation. 
 
 The procession, which was arranged and conducted by 
 Sir Patrick "Walker, moved from the High School, Infir- 
 mary Street, about two o'clock ; and the pupils, amounting 
 to seven hundred, took leave of that ancient seat of study, 
 by giving three hearty cheers. The following was the 
 order of the procession : 
 
 Band of the 12th Royal Lancers, in front, mounted. 
 JANITOR of the HIGH SCHOOL, in his Gown, and bearing his 
 
 Baton. 
 
 Mr M'KEAN, Writing Master. Mr NICHOL, Arithmetic and 
 Mathematical Master.
 
 232 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 First Class, in fours, according to their size, the smallest 
 
 in front, 
 
 Mr PYPER, Master. 
 Second Class, in like manner, 
 
 Mr MACKAY, Master. 
 Third Class, in like manner, 
 
 Mr LINDSAY, Master. 
 Fourth Class, in like manner, 
 
 Mr IRVINE, Master. 
 Fifth Class, in like manner, 
 
 Dr CARSON, Rector. 
 MODERATOR and OFFICE-BEARERS of the HIGH CONSTABLES. 
 
 The HIGH CONSTABLES, in fours. 
 CITY OFFICERS, with their Partizans, two and two apart. 
 
 MACE. SWORD. 
 
 LORD PROVOST, MAGISTRATES, and COUNCIL, in their Robes. 
 
 The CLERGY of the City, in like manner. 
 
 UNIVERSITY MACE BEARER, with his Mace. 
 
 The Very Reverend PRINCIPAL BAIRD. 
 
 PROFESSORS of the University. 
 
 Those Noblemen and Gentlemen who had attended the High 
 School, and others having tickets^ in fours. 
 
 When every one had been accommodated in the Great 
 Hall, 
 
 Mr HAMILTON, the Architect, addressing the Lord Pro- 
 vost (WALTER BROWN), formally stated, that it afforded him 
 pleasure to report, that the contractor, and tradesmen gene- 
 rally, had completed their work, and the building was now, 
 in every respect, ready for the reception of the pupils. 
 
 The Very Rev. PRINCIPAL BAIRD then offered up a fervent 
 and appropriate prayer, for the Divine blessing on the 
 prosperity of the seminary ; after which the Lord Provost 
 delivered a very judicious address. His Lordship gave an 
 outline of the previous history of the institution, and con- 
 gratulated his countrymen and fellow-citizens on the open- 
 ing of a building, of which even Edinburgh had reason to 
 be proud, and which was worthy of its ancient seminary.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 233 
 
 " It is to you, gentlemen," said his lordship, " the rector and 
 masters of this eur boasted institution, that we look, through the 
 Divine blessing, for its continued usefulness and celebrity. We 
 have done our best to provide for your accommodation, we trust 
 that what we have done has met the approbation of the public, 
 and we flatter ourselves that you will find your new abode as 
 commodious as it is elegant. But it is on your labours that the 
 prosperity of the institution still depends. It is from your suc- 
 cess in the important charge committed to you, that we look for 
 the reward of any exertion that we have made ; and I am sure 
 I -express the sentiments of every one who is acquainted with the 
 present state of the High School when I say, that its friends never 
 could look forward with greater confidence to its future success 
 than at present. If its usefulness and reputation are to be up- 
 held, or if they can be exfended, I am persuaded that it will be 
 in your hands. Three centuries ago, the Magistrates of Edin- 
 burgh gave to the master of their grammar school a monopoly 
 of the education of the Edinburgh youth ; and the circumstance 
 has been noticed as a proof of their anxiety for the prosperity of 
 the establishment, and no doubt it was so. But we now need 
 no such enactments to support it ; we can afford heartily to wish 
 success to all similar institutions ; we have no fear or jealousy 
 about the character or stability of our own ; for we have in your 
 talents, diligence, and past success, a pledge for the prosperity 
 and reputation of the High School, which no monopoly could 
 ever give us. Many of the former scholars of this seminary had 
 filled, and now fill, the most important offices in the country or 
 have gone to other quarters of the globe, to occupy places of ho- 
 nour and respectability the fruits of the early education they 
 received here. I trust that it will continue to be so, and that 
 you will send out many who, in point of literary attainments, and 
 moral and religious character, will bear comparison with the most 
 distinguished who have gone from the High School of Edinburgh. 
 
 And now let me address a few words to the present pupils in 
 this seminary. I have no doubt, my young friends, that you will 
 long remember this day, and will often refer in after-life to the 
 opening of the New High School as one of the most interesting 
 events of your boyhood. But I hope you have good sense enough 
 to see, that your being the first who occupied this place will not
 
 234 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of itself reflect any credit upon, nor be the subject of any pleas- 
 ing recollection, if you cannot look back upon it as the time 
 when you acquired useful knowledge, religious principles, and 
 virtuous habits. On the contrary, if you fail to improve your 
 present opportunities of acquiring these, it will be to your disho- 
 nour that you were pupils in the High School of Edinburgh at 
 the time of its removal to this place a place which is the admi- 
 ration of all, and especially on account of the purpose to which 
 it is destined. You cannot but see in the accommodation here 
 provided for you, what importance is attached to your education, 
 not only by your parents, but by the public. If God grant you 
 life and health, you must one day fill the places now occupied by 
 those around you ; and it is to fit you for filling these places with 
 usefulness and credit, that so much has been done to secure for 
 you a liberal education. But without diligence on your part, no 
 efforts on ours, seconded though they be by the most able teach- 
 ers, will make you either useful or respectable members of society. 
 Strive, then, I beseech you, to profit by the instructions which 
 you receive, and the principles which are inculcated upon you in 
 this place. Remember how much the comfort of your parents 
 the reputation of this long distinguished seminary and the ho- 
 nour of your instructors may depend on you ; and think of the 
 dishonour that must attach to yourselves if you bring any dis- 
 credit on them ; and reflect, on the other hand, what gratification 
 you may afford to your friends, and to all who now take an interest 
 in you. They have felt much anxiety, and they have incurred 
 great labour and expense, on your account. You owe them, 
 therefore, a very heavy debt, and the only reward they look for, 
 and the only one that will satisfy them, is to see you grow up to 
 virtue and respectability here, and to happiness hereafter." 
 
 Dr CATCSON, the Rector, replied in a very eloquent, clas- 
 sical, and effective manner ; and his speech, rather long 
 for insertion here, but inserted elsewhere, 1 will richly repay 
 a careful perusal. 
 
 The REV. DR BKUNTON said, Every day of my life I feel, in 
 some form or other, the advantage of my High School train- 
 1 See APP., pp. 73-78.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 235 
 
 ing. I feel it strongly now ; for it is the only ground on which I 
 could have hoped for the gratification of being requested, in the 
 name of those who have shared that advantage Avith me, to re- 
 turn our acknowledgments to your Lordship, and your colleagues 
 in office, for your labours in the great undertaking, which you 
 have' this day brought to maturity. If my statement be short, 
 it is not because I want interest in the theme, but because many 
 of the topics to which it leads have been illustrated already, with 
 a beauty and a power of which I should be sorry indeed to dimi- 
 nish the impression. It is impossible that any one who was 
 trained in the High School should not feel deep interest in this 
 establishment. It is twined around his heart by many a dear as- 
 sociation. There the seeds of valuable knowledge were sown ; 
 watered, it may have been, now and then with a tear, but far 
 oftener gladdened with the sunshine of smiles and hope. Nor is 
 it knowledge merely that the school-boy acquires. He acquires 
 habits which follow him into after-life, and are of admirable ser- 
 vice there. He acquires habits of activity, industry, and arrange- 
 ment. He imbibes that spirit of generous emulation which can 
 love a deserving rival, which, in regard to literary attainment, 
 acknowledges no superiority but the superiority of talent and di- 
 ligence. He learns that frank and confiding good-will which 
 springs spontaneous in light-hearted boyhood, and which, when 
 exerted, as here, towards the children of every class of citizens, 
 leaves in after-life a kindly influence behind it, which softens the 
 gradation of rank, and becomes the surest cement of human so- 
 ciety. He forms attachments, springing at first from boyish pre- 
 ference, but which ripen sweetly into the friendships of maturer 
 years, which soothe the decline of this frail life, and shall survive 
 when this frail life is closed. These are some of the associations 
 which endear the name of the High School of Edinburgh to thou- 
 sands and tens of thousands ; these are enjoyments which every 
 kind heart would wish to extend and perpetuate ; and therefore it is, 
 that, in the name of those who have felt, and still feel, their value, 
 we offer to your Lordship, and the Corporation of Edinburgh, our 
 thanks, for the wise and liberal measures which have been taken 
 to render permanent the benefits of the High School. The 
 building of the old High School was, at the time when it was 
 undertaken, creditable to your predecessors. While Edinburgh
 
 236 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 was no more than " Auld Reekie," the situation was central ; 
 while our other public buildings were mean and meagre, and the 
 adjoining University was a hovel, the fabric was respectable : 
 but now, when our " romantic town flings her white arms to the 
 sea," the situation is central no longer ; now, when she is become 
 a city of palaces, it is meet that our seats of learning should be 
 foremost in the number. By the munificence of Government, 
 the University has risen into a pile which would honour any ca- 
 pital in Europe, and now, through your fostering patronage, 
 through I will not say the munificence through the gratitude, 
 the justice, of the city of Edinburgh, the High School is not one 
 whit behind. The genius of my friend Mr Hamilton has secured 
 for it a dwelling worthy of the spot where it stands ; and were I 
 to speak volumes in its praise, I could say no more. Let muni- 
 cipal resources be lavished elsewhere on gewgaws, on structures 
 devoted to frivolous amusement, but long may it be the boast of 
 our city, that the architectural undertakings of our Corporation 
 are those which are destined to the worship of our God, and to 
 the training of immortal mind. There is more than good 
 taste in this: there is in it a pure and lofty feeling; there 
 is in it much of moral usefulness. Think not that the mere 
 abric of such structures is a matter of indifference in regard 
 to the success of the object to which they are destined. Who 
 has not felt the reverential awe that steals over the soul as 
 we wander amidst the aisles of some mighty temple ! Nor are 
 the situation and the fabric of a seminary like this destitute of 
 influence in moral culture : many an impression sinks deep into 
 the youthful mind, besides those which are embodied in language. 
 Is it possible for the eye to rest, day by day, on the graceful 
 forms, the proportions, the symmetry, of a pile like this, without 
 the love of order, and beauty, and harmony, being strengthened 
 in the inmost heart ? Is it possible for the eye to look, day by 
 day, from a spot like this on the grand and the lovely landscape 
 that adorns it, clustering together in happiest union the triumphs 
 of nature and of art, without awakening in the soul perceptions 
 of the power, and the wisdom, and the loving-kindness of Him, 
 Avho hath scattered in profusion over nature those elements of 
 beauty and of grandeur who hath nerved the feeble arm of 
 man to accomplish works of such magnificence ! Long may
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 237 
 
 you have your reward in witnessing the prosperous effect of this 
 noble establishment ; in the growing welfare of the interesting 
 youths who surround us now, and of those who shall fill their 
 places when they are called to mingle in the business of life ! 
 May they as far excel the race who went before them, as this 
 proud pile towers above the fabric of which it inherits the name ! 
 REV. DR ANDREW THOMSON. My Lord Provost, I beg leave 
 to say a few words in the name of the parents and guardians of 
 the young persons attending the High School. It is a matter of 
 rejoicing to the parents, and all who have an interest in the im- 
 provement and well-being of youth, that our metropolis has such 
 a seminary as that on whose account we are this day assembled. 
 Edinburgh has been for ages distinguished by this inestimable 
 privilege, of which one generation after another have continued 
 to enjoy the benefits, and have confessed and gloried in the obli- 
 gation. And I may safely assert, that at no former period were 
 its advantages more richly shared, or more justly appreciated, 
 than at the present moment. To the existing patrons, and their 
 predecessors in office, we owe a large debt of gratitude, for the 
 kind, affectionate, warm, and unremitting solicitude with which 
 they have watched over the interests of the institution. That 
 they have never erred in their management I will not venture to 
 affirm. To say so, would be a piece of idle flattery, which I 
 could not bring myself to utter, and which, I am sure, you would 
 disdain to hear. But I speak my own honest sentiments, and 
 those of my fellow- citizens, when I acknowledge, as I now do, in 
 their name and my own, our sense of the anxious care which 
 you have uniformly shown to render this seminary more and 
 more a public blessing, the wisdom and zeal which has cha- 
 racterized your proceedings, and the eminent success by which 
 your labours have hitherto been crowned. Under your aus- 
 pices, it has had its full share in advancing the cause of li- 
 terature, especially as connected with the noble languages 
 of Greece and Rome ; and has demonstrated its superior 
 excellence, by sending forth, from time to time, individuals 
 not a few, who, by the liberal knowledge with which it had 
 stored their minds, the discipline and training to which it had 
 subjected their intellectual and moral powers, and the generous 
 ambition which it awakened and fostered in their breast, came at
 
 238 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 length to occupy high and most important situations in all the 
 various departments of public life. Many of its pupils have lived, 
 or are still living, as monuments of its worth, to adorn their 
 country and their age. On the pupils now attending, we must 
 be supposed to look with a somewhat partial and indulgent eye ; 
 and yet it may not be indelicate to state, and I cannot refrain 
 from stating, that while their number, amounting to seven hun- 
 dred, affords a decisive proof that the community of Edinburgh 
 have not lost their confidence in the High School, or fallen off in 
 their attachment to it a proof the more decisive when we con- 
 sider the able rivalship with which it has of late had to struggle. 
 But those who observe the mode in which the tuition of the pupils 
 is conducted, the attainments they have already reached, and the 
 progress which they are daily making, must be fully satisfied that 
 this confidence and this attachment have not been misplaced. 
 And I cannot help entertaining the delightful hope, that, of the 
 interesting and happy multitude now around us, there will be very 
 many who, by their literary acquirements, their pioiis, virtuous 
 conduct, their professional celebrity, their high sense of honour 
 and of duty, their services in the church and in the state, their 
 patriotism and their philanthropy, will give ample evidence how 
 well they have been here cared for, and how admirably they have 
 been here instructed. In this expectation, and in this hope, which 
 we fondly cherish, we, the parents and guardians, beg to tender our 
 cordial thanks to you the Honourable Patrons, and to you the 
 learned and skilful Teachers of this institution ; and while you 
 persevere in the same course, you may be assured of a continu- 
 ance of that respect, gratitude, and approbation, which you have 
 so abundantly earned ; and what is of more value, we are con- 
 vinced you will receive the best blessing of Him, from whose pro- 
 vidence alone, as the Father of lights, cometh down every good 
 and perfect gift. My Lord Provost, there are two points upon 
 which I wish to make a few remarks. The first respects this 
 new building. We return you our most cordial thanks for trans- 
 ferring the High School from the situation which it formerly oc- 
 cupied to that in which it is now established. I say nothing of 
 the architecture further than simply that it reflects the highest 
 credit on the genius of my friend Mr Hamilton. It is one of the 
 finest and richest displays of classical taste. Its outward beauty
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 239 
 
 is only equalled by its internal arrangements ; and it is in every 
 respect worthy of this city, of which it now forms one of the 
 proudest ornaments. Great and important as this may be, we 
 think not so much of it as of another circumstance, the classical 
 situation to which it brings our children ; who, by the change, 
 will now breathe a freer and purer atmosphere invigorating 
 their bodily health, enlivening their animal spirits, and giving 
 them increased energy to pursue their course of studies. Se- 
 condly, we are glad of the change on account of vicinage. The 
 former situation was in an impure and a contaminating neigh- 
 bourhood. The present is just the contrary ; and what is of 
 great importance, it never can be otherwise, on account of the re- 
 strictions and servitudes by which its locality is surrounded and 
 guarded. We are glad also of the change, for the spaciousness 
 and convenience of the site. I will not say the site is the most 
 central, but I will say it is a most excellent and convenient one 
 not too far removed from any part of the city, and most acces- 
 sible to all those districts from which it is likely to be principally 
 supplied with pupils. Though it was not, geographically speak- 
 ing, the most central spot of this metropolis, it was certainly one 
 of the most convenient that could be found. We are glad of this 
 change, too, on account of the superior safety of the situation. 
 When it was first spoken of, the terrors of parents were awak- 
 ened, as if they saw all their children falling over precipices. 
 I admit that I myself at one time entertained a similar opinion ; 
 but I had not thought of the subject for five miuutes, when I said, 
 if I were to have my choice of a situation, I would fix upon this 
 very site. I said so from the beginning, and say so still. In 
 opposition to all that has been alleged of the dangers of the 
 Calton Hill, I never heard but of one fatal accident taking place 
 upon it, and that was not to a boy. It was to one of your own 
 body, who, forgetting that he was no longer a stripling, but that 
 he was come to a good stiff old age, and wore a magistrate's chain, 
 was rambling among the precipices and fell over. But I never 
 heard of a boy encountering danger on the Calton Hill, far less 
 of any one falling a prey to it. In my younger days, it was a 
 great resort for amusement with boys of all ranks, and one of 
 these bickering was in its own nature somewhat hazardous ; 
 but I never heard of an accident from the natural dangers of the
 
 240 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 situation. These alarmists seem to think that our boys have not 
 eyes to see danger, nor heels to escape from it. In my opinion 
 they have both the one and the other of these faculties in great 
 perfection. I have one of my own children at the school, and I 
 am not in the least apprehensive on that score. I cannot but 
 recollect what dangers they were exposed to in the former situ- 
 ation the ordeal they had to pass through the long gauntlet 
 they had to run going from the New Town along the Bridges 
 and High Street, and through narrow lanes crowded with coaches 
 and other vehicles dangers multiplying as they went along; 
 yet so far from any life being lost, not a limb was broken, not 
 even a scratch was received in going to the Old High School. 
 If they encountered all these, and fell a prey to none, I say that 
 the fears of the most tender and timid mother may be hushed 
 for ever ; for her children run no risk whatever in attending the 
 High School, situated as it now is, on the Calton Hill. I know 
 that my young friends have all the caution of Scotch boys, though 
 they may not all have what phrenologists call the organ of cau- 
 tiousness : and I am quite sure that they will study their own 
 safety, and the comfort of their parents, and run no unnecessary 
 risks, either in coming to school, or in going home from school. 
 The other point I would speak of regards the selection of teachers. 
 I have always considered this as by far the most important point 
 in education. But the idea entertained by some seems to be, 
 that the system of education is the sum total of the concern. 
 They consider the system to be every thing. If the system is 
 good, they think that the end is attained, and that the work is 
 done ; and they never dream that any imperfection can arise 
 from those to whom it is committed to do the work. If there 
 are any failures, they are sure to refer them to the system, and 
 not to the persons to whom the working of the system is com- 
 mitted. My doctrine is the very reverse of this ; and I am so 
 strongly impressed with it, that I would form it into an absolute 
 maxim, and say ' Make a system what you please, still the 
 teacher is every thing.' Give us teachers to the High School of 
 high scholarship, sound principles, exemplary characters 
 teachers having a great quantity of knowledge, and who, more- 
 over, are capable of communicating that knowledge teachers 
 who can adapt their instructions to the capacities, tempers, and
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 241 
 
 habits of the young persons under their care teachers who com- 
 bine great affection with great energy and great firmness above 
 all, teachers who are in love with their profession who are very 
 enthusiasts in the cause, and who can say not merely in the spirit 
 of poetry, but from consciousness and heartfelt conviction of the 
 truth 
 
 Delightful task ! to rear the tender thought, 
 To teach the young idea how to shoot, 
 To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, 
 To breath th' enlivening spirit, and to fix 
 The generous purpose in the glowing breast. 
 
 Give me teachers of this description, and I care little about the 
 system ; because, if it is bad, they will make it a good one if 
 good, they will make it better. On the other hand, if the 
 teacher is of a different caste, all goes wrong ; if you give him a 
 good system he will make it a bad one ; and if you give him a 
 bad one he will make it worse. In the one case you gain every 
 thing, in the other every thing is lost. I am not aware that this 
 principle has been formally recognised by the patrons; but 
 whether it has or not, I know they have hitherto acted upon it ; 
 for if any thing more than another has distinguished the exercise 
 of the patronage of the town-council, it has been the selection of 
 the best qualified teachers for the High School. The patrons 
 have hitherto acted as if they felt that everything depended upon 
 the qualities of the teachers. I might illustrate this by running 
 over the numerous list which stands upon your record, from the 
 very commencement of the institution, down to the appointment 
 of the existing masters, whose presence forbids me to expatiate 
 on their talents and their merits, which I should otherwise have 
 had great pleasure in doing though why should I dwell upon 
 talents and merits which are so well known to all of us ? We 
 thank you, my Lord, for what you have done so well in times 
 past, and now beg that you may pursue the same course in all 
 time to come. Give us such teachers as an Adam (pointing to 
 the portrait of Dr Adam) give us a Pillans (pointing to the 
 portrait of Professor Pillans) give us a Carson I say, my Lord, 
 repeat the boon, as I now repeat the request give us an Adam, 
 a Pillans, and a Carson ; give us better men if you can find 
 them, but give us them and such as them, and I say, in the name 
 
 Q
 
 242 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of the parents and guardians of the children, we will not only be 
 contented, but grateful and delighted. You will thereby reflect 
 the highest credit on your own characters as guardians of this 
 great and important establishment ; you will effectually uphold 
 the high character which the institution already maintains in the 
 literary world you will perpetuate and extend its usefulness, 
 and your memories will be embalmed in the hearts of an enlight- 
 ened and grateful posterity. 
 
 The Lord Provost having announced the ceremonial 
 was completed, three cheers were given, and the boys re- 
 turned to their different class-rooms to be dismissed by the 
 masters ; and the ladies and gentlemen present separated. 
 
 In the evening about four hundred gentlemen sat down 
 to dinner in the Waterloo Hotel. The Right Hon. the Lord 
 Provost in the chair; Solicitor- General Hope, the Rev. 
 Dr Andrew Thomson, and Adam Luke, Esq., treasurer of 
 the city, croupiers. 
 
 After the cloth was removed, the chairman proposed 
 the health of his Majesty (George IV.), the largest contri- 
 butor to the fund for building the New High School. 
 
 The LORD PROVOST, in rising to propose the toast of the even- 
 ing, said, he need not ask how the company were pleased with 
 the proceedings of the day ; because the many happy faces be- 
 fore him bespoke that, like himself, they had been quite delighted. 
 He craved a bumper " To the Prosperity of the High School of 
 Edinburgh." May it continue to confer on the community simi- 
 lar, or even greater benefits, in time to come, than it has done for 
 the three bygone centuries ! 
 
 The SOLICITOR-GENERAL HOPE. Assembled as we all are, on 
 an occasion like this, and connected by early recollections, or inter- 
 ested present ties, in the prosperity and usefulness of that insti- 
 tution, it is impossible to have viewed the ceremony of this day 
 but with the greatest pleasure. Most of us received our educa- 
 tion in that seminary most of us were there taught the most 
 useful lessons for the business of after life. We were taught
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 243 
 
 along with fellow-citizens of all ranks for in the High School 
 of Edinburgh there are no distinctions but those which industry, 
 character, and talents confer. It is there that the boy acquires 
 those qualifications which insure honour and prosperity to the 
 future man. The boy is there taught the most useful lesson of a 
 free state, that the distinctions of rank in society are only valu- 
 able, and reflect honour on the possessor in the proportion to 
 the way these are sustained, and the still more valuable lessons, 
 that all hereditary distinctions and advantages fail, when com- 
 pared with the distinctions which talent, genius, and industry in- 
 fallibly bestow. The peculiar advantages and the peculiar 
 benefits of this institution are, that it gives a faithful representa- 
 tion of that life into which all its pupils are afterwards intro- 
 duced. It teaches the best lessons of preparation for that life, 
 at a time when the mind is most susceptible of receiving the 
 deepest and lively impression of every object of youthful ambi- 
 tion, and proposes to it the legitimate means by which alone that 
 ambition may be realised. It is impossible not to recollect that 
 the prosperity of the High School is identified with that of the 
 city, and that it is peculiarly under the care and the patronage 
 of the Magistrates, and I will repeat, I am sure, every class of 
 the community feels and acknowledges that they, in the choice 
 of its masters, and in their zeal for its prosperity, have proved 
 themselves the faithful and public-spirited guardians of the trust 
 reposed in them. 
 
 The LORD PROVOST, in the name of the Town Council, re- 
 turned thanks. He trusted the magistrates of Edinburgh, in 
 the exercise of their patronage, would always anxiously endeavour 
 to promote the prosperity, not only of the High School, but of 
 every other establishment over which they had the presidency. 
 His Lordship then proposed the health of the ministers of 
 Edinburgh, to whose friendly advice the magistrates, as patrons 
 of the High School, were often much indebted. 
 
 PRINCIPAL BAIRD expressed the grateful acknowledgments of 
 his brethren and himself, and said it was gratifying to them to 
 hear laymen in that manner expressing their good opinion and 
 good will to the clergymen of Edinburgh. 
 
 The LORD PROVOST proposed the health of the rector and 
 masters of the High School, and may they be faithful and con-
 
 244 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 scientious in the discharge of their duties, and long continue to 
 merit the approbation of the public. 
 
 Mr WAUGH said, it might not be inappropriate here to men- 
 tion the opinion entertained by the celebrated Dr Parr of Dr 
 Carson. Dr Parr was in Edinburgh in 1819, and (says his 
 biographer) held in due estimation the sound learning taught at 
 the High School. He considered Dr Carson's grammatical work 
 as one of the most useful books that can be put into the hands 
 of young Latin scholars. Thus highly he commends it in a letter 
 to a friend : " I am going to mention a book which has long 
 been a desideratum. The second master of the High School, 
 Edinburgh, has written a very judicious and instructive book on 
 Qui Quoe Quod, and the Subjunctive Mood. I have recom- 
 mended it to some of the first schools in this kingdom. He who 
 makes himself master of this book, will understand principles not 
 very well understood in our public schools hitherto. I am taking 
 pains to diffuse the knowledge of them." 
 
 Dr CARSON, I may say, with confidence, that I express the 
 sentiments of my colleagues, no less than my own, when I thank 
 your Lordship and this company, most sincerely and from the 
 heart, for the distinguished honour you have conferred on us. 
 As individuals, we feel deeply and sensibly the approbation and 
 good wishes of our fellow-citizens ; as a Body, we know well that 
 no establishment in this city is cherished by our patrons with 
 more kindly regard than that to which we have the happiness to 
 belong. Our patrons are, in truth, our friends friends alike of 
 the teacher and of the taught of the parent and of the pupil. 
 But on this subject it is surely unnecessary now to dwell. The 
 events of this day have spoken with a power and an energy, 
 before which eloquence itself must be mute. 
 
 Dr DAVID MACLAGAN said he felt assured his Lordship and 
 the company would cordially join in dedicating a toast to the 
 health of the highly-gifted architect, to whose genius and 
 acquirements they were indebted for that splendid edifice which 
 had this day been opened for the High School, and which was no 
 less distinguished for its external beauty and local harmony than 
 for the admirable adaptation of its internal arrangement for the 
 purposes of education. He trusted it would long remain a proud 
 monument of native art, and a far-famed school of national in-
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 245 
 
 struction. Mr Hamilton had other claims to the admiration and 
 gratitude of every friend of the High School. Sincerely as he 
 rejoiced at the completion of this great work, he could not but 
 look back to the period when, amidst the difficulties which a 
 choice of site presented, and the obstacles which local interests 
 and prejudice, misconception and misrepresentation, created, the 
 best friends of the school were appalled and disconcerted. It 
 was then the genius of our architect obtained its first triumph in 
 reconciling, by the beauty and skill of his design, the jarring dif- 
 ferences of public taste and opinion ; a design which has had 
 the rare merit of being more than realized in the execution. If 
 any lingering doubts should yet remain, he felt satisfied they 
 would, ere long, be dispelled. Convinced as he was, that, con- 
 trasted with the situation and neighbourhood of the old school, 
 on which he did not wish to dwell, that of the new would be 
 found to conduce not only to the physical, but to the moral 
 health of the pupils. It was not, he thought, refining too much 
 to believe, that the classic character of then- place of instruc- 
 tion, the free breeze which fanned their youthful ardour, the 
 relics of ancient grandeur and of their country's history, and the 
 more enduring and sublime monuments of their Creator's power 
 by which they were surrounded, would attune their youthful 
 minds to a finer perception and a keener relish for the beauties 
 of ancient lore, and a purer aspiration of reverence and grati- 
 tude to the Creator and Giver of all things. This was a proud 
 day for all a proud day, indeed, for Mr Hamilton, and not the less 
 that his fame was associated with that noble seminary, of which 
 he had ever been an ardent admirer and a faithful friend. He, 
 too, felt an honest pride that this great work had been accom- 
 plished by a citizen of Edinburgh, whose genius had been in- 
 spired not only by the study of the classic models of antiquity, 
 but by observant admiration of the beauties of his own romantic 
 town, who had added a new triumph hi the fine arts to the other 
 glories of his country, and who was not more to be admired for 
 his genius than respected for his private worth and independence 
 of character. 
 
 Mr HAMILTON briefly returned thanks. 
 
 BARON CLEKK RATTBAY. Mr Solicitor-General I am going 
 to propose the health of an individual under whose auspices we
 
 246 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 sit in safety at our firesides, and who does all in his power to 
 promote the education of the children who are to adorn future 
 generations. I need scarcely name the Lord Provost. I am a 
 scholar of the High School, and so was the Lord President 
 Hope, who would have been here to-day but for a family mis- 
 fortune. We were present at laying the foundation of the old 
 High School, and we then thought that nothing grander could 
 be accomplished; but "the march of intellect" has made us 
 hide our diminished heads. I beg to propose the health of the 
 Lord Provost. 
 
 The LORD PROVOST said, it was a remarkable circumstance 
 that the distinguished individual whose health he now meant to 
 propose, was dux of the rector's class at the laying of the foun- 
 dation stone of the old High School, and had now risen to the 
 highest dignity on the judicial bench of his country " The 
 health of the Lord President of the Court of Session." 
 
 The SOLICITOR-GENERAL. My Lord, you will readily believe 
 that I acknowledge the toast which you have just given, with the 
 deepest gratitude and most heartfelt pride. My father was dux 
 of the rector's class when the foundation stone of the last High 
 School was laid ; and I know not a better proof of the usefulness 
 of that seminary than is given by his life, and by the simple fact, 
 that he entered that school a boy, with no other prospects, and 
 no brighter hopes than are common to all or any one of the 700 
 boys now attending it ; and that he has now risen to the first 
 public situation of his native country. It was that distinction, 
 I know well, which occasioned the choice he afterwards made of 
 his profession ; it was that distinction which opened to him, then 
 an unknown boy from an English school, the hope and prospect 
 of future greatness. He feels deeply the advantage of the friend- 
 ships which he formed in early life at the High School, and none 
 of which, I trust, will be ever lost. The affairs of his fellow- 
 citizens always interested him ; and although for a quarter of a 
 century he had abstained from attending public meetings of this 
 nature, I urged him to be present at the procession, and at this 
 meeting, because I felt that no individual present could afford a 
 better or nobler example of what talents, character, and industry 
 might attain in this country since the highest situation in 
 Scotland had been reached by one who entered life with no
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 2*7 
 
 higher prospects than every one of those now at the High School 
 might with safety propose to himself. My father valued it as 
 one of his highest distinctions, that he had the honour to be dux 
 of the High School. 
 
 Several other gentlemen spoke on this interesting occa- 
 sion ; but want of space obliges us to rest satisfied by 
 simply enumerating the names of Principal Baird, Walter 
 Cook, Esq., W.S., Rev. Dr David Dickson, James L'Amy, 
 Esq., and James Simpson, Esq., Advocates, William 
 Trotter, Esq. of Ballendean, and Sir Patrick Walker. 
 
 The following inscription appears in front of the High 
 School : 
 
 Schola.Regia.Edinensis.Trecentis.Ante.Annis.Instituta. 
 
 Studiisque.Litterarum.Humaniorum.Sacrata. 
 
 Nunc.Ex.Decreto.Senatus.Edinensis.In.Nova.Hac.Sede. 
 
 Pro.Dignitate.Urbis.et.Concursu.Discentium.Ampliticata.Instructaque. 
 
 Hanc.Rite.Inchoatam.Ab.Alexandro.Henderson.Praefecto.Urbis. 
 
 Anno.Post.Christum.Natum.MDCCCXXV. 
 
 Gulielmus.Trotter.Qui.Deinceps.Praefectus.Creatus.Est. 
 
 Omni.Cultu.Extruendam.Curavit.Pecunia.Maxime.Ex.TJrbis.Aerario. 
 
 Erogata.Partim.Etiam.A.Civibus.Patriae.Studiosis.Ultro.Collata.. 
 
 Begnante.Georgio.Quarto.Principe.Munificentissimo. 
 
 Hujusque.Operis.Fautore.et.Adjutore. 1 
 
 It may be observed, that the original design, from which 
 the engraving in this volume is taken, contemplated sculp- 
 tural decoration to a considerable extent. In particular, 
 the two statues which appear in front of the portico, and 
 which, from the want of funds, have never been placed 
 
 1 Translation. High School of Edinburgh, founded Three hundred 
 years ago, and consecrated to the study of polite learning, now by an 
 act of the Town Council enlarged and fitted up in this new situation, 
 suitably to the dignity of the city and the resort of scholars. This edi- 
 fice, commenced with the usual solemnities in the year 1825, by Alexan- 
 der Henderson, Lord Provost of the City, was reared with every regard 
 to elegance under the auspices of William Trotter, the succeeding Lord 
 Provost ; the expense being chiefly defrayed from the fuuds of the city, 
 aided by the voluntary contributions of patriotic citizens, in the reign 
 of George the Fourth, a most munificent Prince, who vouchsafed his 
 royal favour and aid to this undertaking.
 
 248 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 there, were intended to represent distinguished literary 
 characters connected with the seminary. 
 
 According to the City Chamberlain's books, the expense 
 of the buildings, levelling, enclosing the ground, and fur- 
 nishing the class-rooms, &c., amounted to 34,199 : 11 : 6. 
 Independently of His Majesty's donation, already referred 
 to, the town-council voted the sum of 2000 ; and the vo- 
 luntary subscriptions of private individuals to the same 
 patriotic purpose amounted to 3,984, Os. 9d. sterling. 1 
 
 In August 1829, Mr Nichol, the admirable teacher of 
 Arithmetic and Mathematics, intimated to the Patrons, 
 that since he had entered upon that situation he had 
 found its duties less compatible with his other engage- 
 ments than he could have previously anticipated, and 
 therefore begged to announce his intention of resigning 
 the office immediately after the ensuing examination. His 
 resignation was received with much regret ; and on the 9th 
 of September Mr George Lees, the well-known lecturer 
 in the School of Arts, became Mr Nichol's successor. 
 
 As mentioned in that portion of our volume, in which a de- 
 tailed account is given of the system of education at present 
 pursued in this seminary, two days at the close of every 
 session are devoted to a searching examination of the pupils. 2 
 In recent times Reports of those annual meetings have been 
 preserved ; and the subjoined is that for the year 1833 : 
 
 EDINBURGH, August 9, 1833. 
 
 THE examination of the High School took place yesterday and 
 to-day. WILLIAM CHILD, Esq. of Glencorse, one of the magis- 
 trates, presided in the absence of Lord Provost LEARMONTH. 
 
 ' The public most liberally responded to the call. The Right Hon. Wil- 
 liam Dundas, M.P. for Edinburgh, subscribed 100 ; and the following gen- 
 tlemen 50 each : William Allan, Esq. of Glen, Dr A. R. Carson, Baron 
 Clerk llattray, Lord Glenlee, Right Hon. Charles Hope, Francis Jef- 
 frey, Esq., Andrew M'Kean, Esq., Professor Pillans, Charles Selkrig, 
 Esq., and William Trotter, Esq. of Ballendean. 
 
 2 See p. 280.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 249 
 
 The whole ceremony went off with more than its wonted eclat ; 
 and, as compared with the appearances of former years, dero- 
 gated nothing from the zeal and talents of the teachers, or the 
 industry and progress of the scholars. The various classes ac- 
 quitted themselves in a manner equally creditable to masters and 
 pupils, and showed an accuracy and extent of information not 
 surpassed in any seminary in Great Britain. 
 
 When the labours of the examination had terminated, and the 
 prizes came to be distributed, the whole assembly repaired to the 
 Hall, which was crowded with spectators, consisting of ladies and 
 gentlemen, interested in the proceedings of the day. 
 
 In opening the business, the Rev. Dr BRUNTON expressed in 
 his own name, and in the name of the magistrates of the city, the 
 pleasure they had received from the examination. It was, said 
 he, a spectacle which must have given delight to every heart that 
 witnessed it, but to none more than an old High School boy, in 
 which character I am proud to class myself. The teachers must 
 feel it as a gratifying reward for their honourable labours ; they 
 must be proud of the grateful remembrance of the attachment of 
 their pupils, a striking proof of which we have this day seen 1 but 
 they have a nobler reward in the approbation of their own minds, 
 and in the delightful sense of their usefulness. To my young friends 
 I am glad to assign a due share in the honours of this day. The 
 old High School boys rejoice that they are outdone by their succes- 
 sors. There remains the gratifying duty of conferring rewards 
 upon the successful pupils, of conferring applause and approba- 
 tion on all ; more especially on those who, being the lowest in the 
 class, have had the manliness to appear here to-day. Splendid 
 talents are the lot of few ; but our gracious God has put within the 
 reach of all those qualities which ensure respectability and useful- 
 ness in life ; industry, discretion, and sound principle. I need not 
 speak to you of the value of those attainments for which you are 
 here employed in preparing. Those who have even entered upon 
 the study of classical literature must already have seen how 
 bright, and smiling, and fertile, is the prospect. I do not speak 
 of the charms of kind and friendly intercourse among the pupils ; 
 the recollection of which I myself cherish, I speak only of the at- 
 
 1 Allusion is here made to the presentation of Dr Carson's portrait. 
 See APP. p. 70.
 
 250 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tractions of classical literature in itself. But while you are en- 
 riching yourselves with classical literature, I beseech you to study 
 that which is higher than human wisdom ; and while you enjoy 
 the pleasures of friendship, I would exhort you to seek the friend- 
 ship of " Him with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turn- 
 ing." To His protection I commend you, earnestly wishing that 
 you all may enjoy, if it is His pleasure, many days of as much 
 happiness as the present ; and that hereafter you may experience 
 pleasures, in comparison with which all created happiness is " less 
 than nothing, and vanity." 
 
 On the 2d September 1834, the following official com- 
 munication was published, and widely circulated : 
 
 THE LORD PROVOST, MAGISTRATES, AND COUNCDL have deem- 
 ed it proper to announce to the public the result of their inquiry 
 into the state of education in the High School. In doing so, 
 they have much pleasure in recording their entire approval of 
 the able and zealous manner in which the rector and masters 
 have discharged their important duties. They feel themselves 
 warranted in asserting, that at no period has the high character 
 of this great seminary been more successfully maintained. In 
 proof of this, they may confidently appeal to the last public exa- 
 mination. 
 
 Feeling, however, an anxious desire to extend, as far as prac- 
 ticable, the range of studies pursued within its walls, the atten- 
 tion of the College Committee has been earnestly directed to the 
 attainment of so desirable an object ; and, after having obtain- 
 ed the opinion of the rector and masters, the result of their la- 
 bours now appears in the revised Course of Study. 
 
 The facilities which will now be afforded to the pupils of the 
 High School for the study of the French Language, on moderate 
 terms, cannot fail to be regarded as an essential improvement, 
 calculated to supply an important desideratum in the literary 
 curriculum. 
 
 By means of an alteration in the arrangement of the hours, 
 additional time has been obtained for the writing, arithmetical, 
 and mathematical departments, which will greatly facilitate the 
 classification of the pupils, and thus contribute to the greater 
 efficiency of those important branches of education.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 251 
 
 The introduction into the General Knowledge Class of several 
 additional subjects of great interest and practical utility, must 
 prove highly conducive to the mental development of the pupils, 
 and call forth, in a more prominent manner than heretofore, 
 their peculiar talents and diversified tastes. 
 
 These, and other improvements which it is unnecessary to 
 specify, will, it is hoped, receive the approval of an enlightened 
 public, and tend to advance the prosperity of an institution, which 
 justly ranks as one of the most valuable of the educational esta- 
 blishments of Scotland. While it will be the agreeable duty 
 of the town-council, as patrons, to watch over its interests, and to 
 preserve it in all its integrity as a great classical and literary se- 
 minary worthy of the metropolis, they will be happy to introduce 
 into the system, from time to time, such additions as may appear 
 to be called for by the progress of education, and the improved 
 methods of instruction. 
 
 The College Committee reported to the Council, that 
 they concurred in opinion with the teachers, that it would 
 not then be prudent to make any extensive alterations on 
 the classical department, or the constitution of the High 
 School. They farther suggested, as appears from the pre- 
 ceding document, that a French Master should be ap- 
 pointed, and some changes should be made on the hours of 
 teaching, as well as on the school fees. These recommenda- 
 tions were adopted by the Corporation, and M. Senebier 
 was appointed teacher of the French language. 
 
 Mr George Lees, after zealously and ably performing his 
 duties as Arithmetical Master for five years, tendered his re- 
 signation. The vacant place was filled up on the 7th of Oc- 
 tober by the election of Mr William Moffat. As a teacher 
 in Heriot's Hospital, this gentleman had the advantage 
 of being much under the eyes of the Members of Council ; 
 and to his diligence and great success in that situation 
 he chiefly owed his election. Mr Moffat, it may be noticed, 
 was appointed for five years, on the understanding that his 
 connexion with the school should cease at the termination
 
 252 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of that period, unless he were then re-elected. Happily 
 for the seminary, Mr Moffat's services have been continued ; 
 and as in his case, so also in that of other teachers who were 
 chosen for a specified period, it has been declared, that all 
 the masters hold office during the pleasure of the Patrons. 
 
 What follows relates to what occurred at the annual 
 distribution of prizes to those scholars to whom they had 
 been awarded : 
 
 EDINBURGH, August 7, 1835. 
 
 The Rev. Dr JOHN LEE, one of the ministers of the city, and 
 afterwards Principal of the University of Edinburgh, congra- 
 tulated the Lord Provost and the other patrons on the distin- 
 guished place which the High School continued to hold among 
 the seminaries of Great Britain. It had long maintained a 
 name second to none in the Empire ; and from the specimens 
 of excellence which he had that day witnessed, he hesitated 
 not to pronounce, that it continued to sustain the charac- 
 ter which it had already so deservedly gained. He then con- 
 gratulated the Eector and Teachers on the proofs which that 
 day had been produced of their zeal, assiduity, and ability in the 
 teaching of youth ; and, in conclusion, he expressed a hope that 
 the day would never come when the literature of Greece and 
 Rome was neglected in this country. All who heard him must 
 be fully sensible that those studies not only offered no obstruc- 
 tion to the attainment of practical excellence in common life, but 
 that they were also the only solid and sure foundation by which 
 to ascend to eminence, not merely in those grave pursuits, to the 
 study of which they were essential, but also in those loftier 
 arts which excited the ambition of so many, yet in which so 
 few were calculated to shine, the arts which taught them to 
 command the applause of listening senates, and to wield the 
 destiny of nations. 
 
 PROFESSOR PILLANS said, that having been one of the ex- 
 aminers of the school on the present occasion, he could conscien- 
 tiously declare, that not even in the high and palmy days of the 
 Institution, when it sent forth from its walls a Dugald Stewart, 
 a Walter Scott, a Jeffrey, a Cockburn, a Mountstuart Elphin- 
 stone, a Homer, and a Brougham not even in those palmy
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 253 
 
 days was the course of instruction pursued in the Institution 
 better calculated to produce such men as these than the system 
 now followed. It was a course of instruction which was not cal- 
 culated to flash and strike astonishment into those who had re- 
 ceived an ill education themselves ; but one which prepared the 
 scholar for every business of life. 
 
 He would say to his young friends, that they were not to ad- 
 dress themselves to their various studies merely to please their 
 friends, or even to adorn the commonwealth, but there was a 
 duty incumbent on them to keep up that distinguished character 
 of the school, which had existed for centuries, and which had 
 sent forth from it such names as those he had mentioned. 
 
 On the 15th December M. de Fivas succeeded M. Sene- 
 bier, who resigned his appointment as French teacher in 
 the High School, in consequence of its interfering with 
 other professional engagements. 
 
 In January 1837, Mr Alexander M'Kean, teacher of 
 Writing, resigned his appointment, and received the thanks 
 of the Magistrates and Council, " with their best wishes 
 for his success in the new and honourable course of exer- 
 tion to which he intends to devote himself." On the 7th 
 of the following month the patrons selected Mr William 
 Cooper to succeed Mr M'Kean. 
 
 The following account of the examination of 1 839, and 
 the address of the Chief Magistrate, will be read with plea- 
 sure by the friends of this seminary : 
 
 EDINBURGH, August 2, 1839. 
 
 The examination of the High School took place yesterday and 
 to-day in the class rooms of the institution. At three o'clock this 
 afternoon, the school assembled, for the purpose of distributing 
 the prizes, when the gallery and other portions of the splendid 
 hall were filled by the parents and friends of the pupils, present- 
 ing an unusually animated and gay appearance. The Lord Pro- 
 vost (Sir JAMES FORREST of Comiston, Bart.,) took the chair, 
 and beside him the magistrates and councillors, and several of
 
 254 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the professors, along with the clergy, and other professional gen- 
 tlemen. 
 
 His Lordship addressing the meeting, said, I rejoice to see so 
 large an assemblage in this Hall, and I hail it as an omen of the 
 increasing interest which the inhabitants of Edinburgh feel in the 
 prosperity of this great national Institution. I am confident that 
 I may with all safety express the unmingled satisfaction which 
 all who were present this day have received in witnessing the exa- 
 mination of the various classes ; and I am happy to think that the 
 proficiency which has been displayed by the pupils gives strong 
 proof of the unceasing attention with which they have devoted 
 themselves to their studies during the past year ; and it is no less 
 an unequivocal proof of the zeal and talents of the teachers. In 
 the classes for Writing, Arithmetic, Geography, French, and Ma- 
 thematics in all those studies which are more immediately con- 
 nected with the practical pursuits of life the proficiency of the 
 pupils has been marked indeed. And it is well for our ingenuous 
 youth, who here imbibe those lessons which are to guide them 
 in their future career, that, according to the established practice 
 here, the study of the immortal languages of Greece and Rome 
 occupies a large portion of the time of the pupils. Whatever 
 may be the value of other studies, I hope never to see the day 
 when the study of these noble languages shall be discouraged as 
 a useless waste of time. Being myself an alumnus of this school, 
 I shall ever remember with delight the time which I spent within 
 its walls ; and I remember also the enthusiasm with which the 
 teachers of that day explained to their pupils those models of elo- 
 quence, of poetry, and of philosophy which the Latin and Greek 
 authors have transmitted to posterity. I am confident that this 
 school will long maintain the high place which it has ever held 
 among the literary institutions of our land. It has now flourished 
 for many generations it has seen the lapse of centuries, and it 
 still contains within itself the seeds of permanence and vigour. 
 Other literary institutions may be fostered for a time by the 
 energy and zeal of their directors, but I look upon this school as 
 calculated to uphold the literary fame of our land ; and I hope it 
 will long continue to possess a succession of as able teachers as 
 those that now adorn its classes. From what we have seen this 
 day, I may say without the fear of contradiction, that those who
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 255 
 
 have now the superintendence of education will not suffer in com- 
 parison with those who have gone before them at any former 
 period ; and I would say to my young friends round me, that I 
 hope they will continue to improve in the spheres to which they 
 may be hereafter called, the instruction which they have received 
 here ; and that the applauses and the rewards which they receive 
 this day will not be looked upon by them as an end of their studies, 
 but that they will consider them as stimulants to farther exer- 
 tion. I hope that those who are about to leave for some of the 
 Universities will there find the benefit of the instruction and the 
 knowledge which they have acquired in this place ; and that 
 those who remain at school will continue every year to double 
 their diligence every year to increase their exertions, and never 
 to rest satisfied with any present amount of acquirements. I 
 will not detain you longer from what I know will be considered 
 the most pleasing duty of the day the receiving of those rewards 
 which your exertions have merited ; and when I see around me 
 so many joyous countenances, it recals to my memory the days 
 of yore, when I looked forward with anxiety and hope to the ar- 
 rival of this day as the termination of the labours of the year 
 as one of the resting places of life, where I might with pleasure 
 look behind on the past, and forward with hope for the future. 
 The prizes were then distributed. 
 
 Mr Benjamin Mackay, who laboured as a classical master 
 with great energy and success, announced to the Lord Pro- 
 vost his intention, in August 1843, to retire from the High 
 School. In his letter of resignation Mr Mackay says, " The 
 best years of my life have been spent in the public service, 
 and during my whole course I have not been three days 
 absent from duty. In retiring from the High School, I 
 hope I may be permitted to express to your Lordship, and 
 through your Lordship to the Council and citizens of Edin- 
 burgh generally, my deep sense of gratitude for the pecu- 
 liar favour and indulgence with which my services have 
 been received during a long series of years. I can never 
 cease to feel a lively interest in all that concerns Edin- 
 burgh, and especially in the prosperity of that noble insti-
 
 256 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tution with which I have been so long connected. . . . 
 I say nothing of my exertions for the High School ; I say 
 nothing of the improvements which I have been instru- 
 mental in introducing. The conditions annexed to the 
 competitions for the Medal endowed by me will sufficiently 
 indicate my views as to the course of education most suit- 
 able for that department of the High School with which I 
 was connected." l The Chief Magistrate was requested to 
 convey to Mr Mackay the regret of the Council at his 
 withdrawal from the school, with their best thanks for his 
 long and faithful services. 2 
 
 At the time that Mr Mackay determined, uncondition- 
 ally, to resign, his learned colleague, Mr Lindsay, who had 
 taught in the school since the year 1818, also intimated 
 his willingness to withdraw on a suitable retiring allow- 
 ance, which was speedily adjusted to his satisfaction. 3 
 
 Two gentlemen, of established reputation and experience, 
 were elected to supply the vacancies thus occasioned in 
 the classical masterships. Mr William Walker Carmichael, 
 of Madras College, St Andrews, 4 became the successor of 
 Mr Mackay ; and Mr William Maxwell Gunn, 5 Rector of 
 Haddington Burgh Schools, was placed in the situation so 
 long and faithfully held by Mr Lindsay. 
 
 In the month of October 1843, in compliance with the 
 wishes of many of the parents of the boys, the patrons ap- 
 pointed Mr George Holland and his son joint teachers of 
 Gymnastics and Fencing in the High School. 
 
 The Duke of Portland, and the Marquess of Titchfield, 
 
 1 We understand it is Mr Mackay's intention, as generally indicated 
 in his letter of resignation, to endow a medal, as also to found an exhi- 
 bition or bursary in connection with the High School of Edinburgh. 
 
 3 See APP. p. 108 ; and for Mr Mackay's own account of his mode of 
 teaching in the High School, see pp. 166-203. 
 
 See APP. pp. 108 and 166. 
 
 4 Ib. p. 111. 
 * Ib. p. 113.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 257 
 
 patrons of the chair of Humanity in the University of St. 
 Andrews, regardless of family connexion, party feelings, and 
 political influence, manifested the sincerity of their desire 
 to promote the best interests of that ancient seat of learn- 
 ing, by selecting the man whom they considered best quali- 
 fied to discharge the duties of the office. Their choice fell 
 upon Mr (now Dr) Pyper, who was long an ornament of the 
 High School. At an entertainment given to Dr Pyper, on 
 the 29th of October 1844, on the occasion of his promo- 
 tion, Lord Provost Black in the chair ; a high encomium 
 was passed on his merits. In an eloquent speech, having 
 enlarged on the ill-requited services of teachers of youth, 
 his Lordship spoke as follows : 
 
 " But it is not only as a representative of his order, but for his 
 individual merits, that we honour Dr Pyper. He has now been 
 under the public eye amongst us for more than twenty years, and 
 even the tongue of calumny has not ventured a whisper against 
 him. The parents who have intrusted to his charge their most 
 precious jewels, have had them faithfully restored, brightened, 
 and polished, and set with fair colours. He can now look abroad 
 upon society, and see the seeds which he sowed in the youthful 
 mind germinating, blossoming, and bearing precious fruit. 
 Many holding important stations in society have been indebted 
 to him for much of the success they have attained in after life, 
 and are now scattering in other fields, the multiplied seeds of 
 knowledge and of virtue which date their origin from his culture. 1 
 His progress has been that of the upright from dawn to the per- 
 fect day. After receiving the rudiments of his education in a 
 parish school, and struggling to attain the means of attending the 
 University during the winter, by teaching during the summer ; 
 
 1 Among Dr Pyper's pupils, may be mentioned the Rev. Dr Archibald 
 Campbell Tait, now Head Master of Rugby School. Dr Tait entered 
 the High School of Edinburgh, as a pupil of Mr James Gray, and on 
 that gentleman's resignation in 1822, the class was entrusted to the 
 care of Dr Pyper, with whom the present accomplished master of Rugby 
 remained till he entered the Edinburgh Academy, which he left in 1827, 
 carrying off the highest honours of that seminary. 
 
 R
 
 258 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 we find him at the early age of sixteen, parish schoolmaster of 
 Laurencekirk, under the venerable Dr Cook, now his colleague 
 in the University. After being two Years a master in the High 
 School of Glasgow, the patrons of the Edinburgh High School 
 were fortunate enough to secure his services for this city, where, 
 for twenty years, he has continued to rise in the estimation of his 
 countrymen, till at length he has been crowned with the well- 
 merited dignity of a Professorship in the most ancient university 
 of Scotland. We congratulate him on his hard-earned honours, 
 and we congratulate the University of St. Andrews on its valu- 
 able acquisition. If anything could add to this cause of gratula- 
 tion, it is the circumstance that this honour has been awarded, 
 not to a family retainer not to one who has only deserved it by 
 his genius and attainments ; but to one whose life has been spent, 
 and whose qualifications have been proved, in the honourable 
 occupation of a teacher of youth. Long may the Professor of 
 Humanity in the University of St. Andrews enjoy his honours, and 
 long may he adorn the chair to which he has been appointed." 
 
 "We have only room for a short extract from Dr Pyper's 
 excellent and appropriate reply. 
 
 " I should, indeed, be most ungrateful did I not thus publicly 
 acknowledge that, from the first moment of my connexion with 
 the High School to the present hour, I have received the most 
 unbounded confidence, kindness, and support, from the Lord Pro- 
 vost and magistrates of this city ; and I need not say that, to the 
 citizens at large, my obligations are equally great. It would be 
 entirely out of place to enter at present into the wide subject of 
 classical education. The seminary with which I have had the 
 honour to be connected, has at least performed its share of the 
 great work of intellectual culture, both to this city and to the 
 country at large. Indeed, I believe I may justly claim for it 
 some merits which have been usually assigned to other quarters, 
 for it may be truly said, that within the walls of the High School 
 originated that union of strict classical studies, with a proper 
 amount of useful collateral knowledge, which has so long dis- 
 tinguished both that seminary and the grammar schools gener- 
 ally throughout Scotland. In proof of this, I need only refer to
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 259 
 
 the name of Dr Adam, to whom the classical literature of this 
 country is more indebted, than to any other individual within the 
 last century. I would just ask you to look to the works which 
 he left behind him, and I would refer more particularly to his 
 Roman antiquities, and to his ancient and modern geography. 
 In the latter work will be found the most extended views that 
 have yet been laid before the public on the union of scientific 
 and general knowledge with the study of the classics. What has 
 been considered as characterizing the educational system of the 
 present day, was anticipated and carried into full effect by that 
 admirable scholar and most distinguished teacher. Now, the 
 tone which was given to the style of teaching in that school 
 by Dr Adam, has been continued to the present day ; and I can 
 only say for myself, and my much-esteemed colleagues, with whom 
 I have been united for twenty years, that we have not only been 
 anxious to preserve unimpaired what had been transmitted to us, 
 but to introduce, from time to time, such improvements, and 
 such extensions, with regard to general knowledge, as were 
 compatible with the leading object of that seminary as a classical 
 school. May I be permitted to make a single remark in refer- 
 ence to this and similar institutions, as to the vast importance of 
 uniting together, during the process of elementary education, the 
 youth of all classes of the community. This is the glory of our 
 Scottish grammar schools, and it is a feature which cannot be too 
 highly appreciated. We know well that the distinctions of life 
 which separate man from man, too soon, alas, force themselves 
 upon our notice. How desirable, then, is it, that as large a por- 
 tion of our youth as possible should, at some period of their lives, 
 come together upon common ground, where these distinctions are 
 little known, and not at all recognised, where they meet simply as 
 members of the great human family, and where the contest is 
 one where intellect and morals alone are concerned ! It is im- 
 portant that our youth should be brought together while the af- 
 fections are yet warm, and while the heart is yet unseared and 
 undulled by the rude realities of actual life. It may be that they 
 separate widely as they advance in life, but depend upon it, a 
 link has been formed stronger than that which is forged of iron 
 or of steel, a link composed of the finest, and the strongest, and 
 the most enduring affections of the human heart. This feeling
 
 260 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 accordingly serves to bind the different ranks of the community 
 together." 1 
 
 Mr John Macmillan, a respected and acceptable classi- 
 cal teacher in the High School of Glasgow, was chosen 
 to succeed Dr Pyper in the Edinburgh seminary. It was 
 at the close of the same session that the subjoined appro- 
 priate address was delivered : 
 
 " The annual examination of the High School took place on the 
 30th and 31st of July 1845, in presence of the Lord Provost, the 
 Magistrates, a number of the city clergy, and of gentlemen con- 
 nected with the educational institutions of Edinburgh. There 
 was also a large concourse of the parents and friends of the 
 pupils. The subjects of examination on Wednesday were French, 
 Writing, Mathematics, and Arithmetic ; and the Fencing classes 
 were also put through then* exercises. Thursday was occupied 
 with the examinations in the classical department. The ability 
 of the masters was amply attested by the proficiency of the pu- 
 pils in the subjects which enter into the course of study in this 
 far-famed institution. Thursday the distribution of prizes took 
 place in the great Hall, when the whole classes were assembled. 
 Compositions both in prose and in verse were read by several of 
 the young gentlemen, for which they were heartily applauded. 
 
 The Lord Provost (BLACK), then rose and said Ladies and 
 Gentlemen, those of you who have witnessed the exhibition of 
 this day cannot but have found that it afforded you unmingled 
 gratification. The young gentlemen of all the classes have ac- 
 quitted themselves in a manner which does great credit alike to 
 themselves and their preceptors. Edinburgh has reason to be 
 proud of this noble Institution as one which has conferred a 
 lustre upon our city, and which has given a tone to the manners 
 and intellect of its inhabitants. Whether they remain in Edin- 
 burgh or betake themselves to other lands, and whatever be the 
 walk of life in which they are led, I believe the students of this 
 seminary will be found every where, and at all times, ably sus- 
 taining the character of the city, and the Institution in which 
 they spent their youthful years. Time would fail me were I to 
 
 1 See APP. p. 109.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 261 
 
 attempt to enumerate the illustrious men who have received 
 their training at our High School. In the same year Homer, 
 Brougham, and Jeffrey studied within its walls. If the school 
 can boast of such alumni in one session, what must be the sum 
 of talent how numerous the able men whom, in the course of 
 many years, all the classes of this Institution have, from time to 
 time, sent forth as witnesses of the moral and intellectual bene- 
 fits which it has conferred ? One grand reason why this Institu- 
 tion has flourished, and continues to flourish, will be found in the 
 eminent character of the men who have presided over it men 
 who would have done honour to any institution in any country. 
 I recollect well my own master (Dr Adam) his memory I 
 fondly like to cherish. He was one of the best of men, one of 
 the most proficient of scholars, and most successful of teachers, 
 who did honour to the school and to his native land, and who by 
 his labours promoted instruction, not only in this country, but in 
 America, giving to both the benefit of his great literary acquire- 
 ments. This Institution has been presided over by many such 
 eminently qualified teachers, and by none more worthily than by 
 him who presides over it at this present day. I have not words 
 sufficient to express the honour in which we as patrons hold him 
 (Dr Carson) in our estimation, and how highly we regard his 
 character and appreciate his efficient services. To him and to 
 his able coadjutors and colleagues, we are indebted beyond what 
 I can in words convey. In the name of the patrons in the 
 name of the parents of the ingenuous youth in the name of the 
 whole inhabitants, I beg leave to express the feelings of admira- 
 tion with which we have regarded the display we have this day 
 witnessed. 
 
 The citizens of Edinburgh have to rejoice in this school, not 
 only for the eminent position which it occupies, but also on ac- 
 count of the peculiar nature of its constitution. Here the youth 
 of all classes of society every sect, the peer and the peasant, 
 all join in the same form, each possessing no advantages over his 
 neighbour. The most humble of our citizens have an opportu- 
 nity of getting their children trained up on a par with the highest 
 ranks of society, having their minds improved, their judgment 
 enlarged and strengthened, and their taste refined, so as to be 
 put on a level with the highest of the land. To the great insti-
 
 262 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tutions of England none can have access but the wealthy, and 
 yet there is not one of them I hold which is entitled to be placed 
 over the High School of Edinburgh. The patrons are anxious 
 that every thing of a useful tendency should be found in the in- 
 stitution, and accordingly they have resolved to add a German 
 class at the opening of next session. 
 
 In conclusion, I beg to address a word or two to my young 
 friends. Some of you have received premiums for your talents, 
 industry, and application. I would remind you that you are not 
 to rest satisfied with the degree of learning which you have at- 
 tained. No, your success should only serve to stimulate you to 
 further exertion. He who has given you talents and acquire- 
 ments, has given these not merely for idle display, but for far 
 higher and nobler purposes ; and unless you exercise them for 
 the information of your fellow men, it were better such attain- 
 ments had never fallen to your lot. I trust that such of you as 
 are now about to enter upon a higher sphere, will return next 
 session to prosecute your studies with renewed vigour. 
 
 His Lordship then proceeded to deliver the prizes." 
 
 The town-council, sensible of the importance of the 
 German language as a branch of study, now that the liter- 
 ature and science of that country had become of so much 
 interest to the inhabitants of Europe, came to the unani- 
 mous resolution to institute a class for German. On the 
 14th August 1845, Dr Carl E. Aue, became the first 
 teacher of that language in the High School. 
 
 To the unfeigned regret of the community, Dr Carson, 
 owing to the delicate state of his health, found it neces- 
 sary to address the following letter to the Lord Provost, 
 resigning his situation as rector : 
 
 "EDINBURGH, 9th October 1845. 
 
 " MY LORD PROVOST, It is well known to your Lordship, and 
 other members of the Honourable Council, that for some months 
 I have not enjoyed that measure of health and strength with 
 which I have almost uninterruptedly been blessed during an in- 
 cumbency of nearly forty years spent in the High School of
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 263 
 
 this city. I was encouraged to believe, and flattered myself with 
 the hope, that the two months of respite from official duty during 
 last vacation, with a change of scene and air, would recruit my 
 diminished strength ; and, in so far, my anticipations were not 
 wholly disappointed. But the resumption of my labours in the High 
 School has brought back all the most alarming symptoms of my 
 illness ; and the advice of my medical friends now is, that I should 
 immediately resign my office, and henceforth pass my life, so long 
 as it shall please God to spare it, in quiet retirement and entire 
 freedom from excitement. 
 
 " In these circumstances, no course now remains for me but o 
 surrender into the hands of your Lordship, and the other honour- 
 able patrons of the High School, the important office, in dis- 
 charging whose duties the happiness of my life has so long, and 
 I may truly say, almost exclusively, consisted. 
 
 " While I thus bid a sad and solemn farewell to the High 
 School of Edinburgh, [ cannot do so without acknowledging, 
 with the deepest gratitude, the kindness and curtesy which I 
 have uniformly experienced in my intercourse with the succes- 
 sive patrons of that great and noble institution. Nor ought I, on 
 this occasion, to forget the generous countenance of the citizens 
 of Edinburgh generally, who, amid the difficulties with which the 
 High School has had to struggle, have still continued to regard 
 with peculiar and partial favour that establishment of which 
 their forefathers were justly proud, and which can claim as its 
 pupils so many who have shed an unfading lustre on their native 
 city. 
 
 " With my warmest and most earnest wishes for the continued 
 and extended prosperity of the High School, I am, my Lord, 
 your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, 
 
 " A. R. CAKSON." 
 
 The patrons of the school gave expression to their sen- 
 timents on the occasion, and were fully alive to the loss 
 which the seminary would sustain by the resignation of so 
 valuable a public servant. No man in Edinburgh was 
 more respected than Dr Carson. His scholarship, and 
 high qualifications as a teacher, were universally acknow-
 
 204 THE HISTOIiY OF THE 
 
 ledged; and one of his pupils has, in a way alike credit- 
 able to himself and his venerable preceptor, favoured us 
 with copious reminiscences, which want of space alone re- 
 luctantly obliges us to keep back. The quiet, unostenta- 
 tious, but effective manner in which he performed his 
 professional duties, secured for him the spontaneous ap- 
 probation of all parties. 1 
 
 Till this period Scotland had uniformly supplied all the 
 classical masters of this school. Upon Dr Carson's retire- 
 ment, however, the patrons, on the 16th December 1845, 
 preferred to the vacant rectorship Dr Leonhard Schmitz, 
 late of the University of Bonn, and eminently distinguished 
 for his scholarship and literary writings ; and who, in ad- 
 dition to qualifications of no common order, had attained 
 a thorough knowledge of the English language. It was 
 resolved that the installation of the new Head Master 
 should be conducted with more than ordinary solemnity. 
 Many of the parents and guardians of the boys, and other 
 friends of the School were, by special invitation, present 
 on that interesting occasion. 
 
 On the 3d of January 1846, the Lord Provost, Magis- 
 trates and Town-Council, assembled in the Hall of the 
 High School in their robes, and attended by the usual in- 
 signia of office, for the purpose of formally inducting Dr 
 Schmitz. The boys attending the school were present. 
 The hall was crowded with an assemblage of ladies and 
 gentlemen, and presented altogether an exceedingly im- 
 posing appearance. 
 
 Principal LEE having opened the proceedings with a most im- 
 pressive and appropriate prayer, 
 
 Lord-Provost BLACK rose and said I have now the honour 
 and the pleasure of introducing the lately appointed rector of the 
 High School, Dr SCHMITZ. That the magistrates and council 
 take a deep interest in the educational institutions of the city, it 
 
 j pp. 69, et seq. 

 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 265 
 
 requires no assurances on my part to convince you ; but of all 
 the seminaries which beautify and benefit our city, none is dearer 
 to them and to the citizens than the High School, where many 
 of the most distinguished men of our time have imbibed those 
 lessons of wisdom and knowledge which have fitted them for the 
 exalted stations which they have adorned. It is here that the 
 sons of the inhabitants are receiving that mental and moral cul- 
 ture and training, which will enable them faithfully and success- 
 fully to discharge the most arduous duties, and fill the most re- 
 sponsible situations. Long may it continue to disseminate its 
 benign influences through the city, through the State, and 
 through the world ; and I trust the citizens and the patrons will 
 never cease to cherish and watch over it as the apple of their 
 eye. The patrons could not fail to feel as a serious calamity the 
 resignation of that most excellent person who lately presided 
 over the school, who for twenty-five years so worthily discharged 
 the duties of the rectorship, adorned the office which he held by 
 profound and extensive learning, won the confidence of his coad- 
 jutors by his courteous and prudent conduct, engaged the affec- 
 tions and awakened the energies of his pupils by his own devotion 
 and enthusiasm in the cause of education. What to most men 
 would have been an irksome task was to Dr Carson a delightful 
 occupation : the bitterest ingredient in the providential dispen- 
 sation which necessitated his retirement was the severing him 
 from the pupils whom he loved, and from opportunities of culti- 
 vating the opening faculties, and enjoying the fragrance of the 
 growing intelligence of his youthful charge. I need not say, that 
 to supply the place of such a rector was a duty which the pa- 
 trons contemplated with a painful anxiety, and for this purpose 
 they invited the competition of classical scholars from all quar- 
 ters ; not that we were insensible to the great merits, and the 
 literary attainments, and the peculiar claims of many in our own 
 neighbourhood, but if accident or circumstances had peculiarly 
 invested any one with qualities and a reputation in the learned 
 world which might advance the celebrity of this noble seminary, 
 the patrons considered it was their duty to select such an one, 
 unmoved by local attachments or personal regards, or feelings of 
 nationality, their only object being to promote the best interests 
 of the school. Gentlemen, I feel persuaded, and I rejoice to
 
 266 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 think that we have secured, in the election of Dr Schmitz, a 
 worthy successor to Dr Adam, Professor Pillans, and Dr Carson. 
 In him we shall have not only an experienced and efficient 
 teacher, but one whose reputation as a classical scholar will bear 
 comparison with that of the head of any seminary in the coun- 
 try. I confess to the vanity, but I hope not an unpardonable 
 vanity, of wishing to be justified in pointing to our High School 
 as an institution where not only the youths are instructed in the 
 elements and more advanced branches of classical education, but 
 as an institution from which proceed those streams of published 
 lore which instruct and delight even the learned in the land and 
 professors in the Universities. 
 
 Before I conclude, allow me to congratulate my young friends 
 on the advantages which they will now enjoy, and to entreat 
 them to improve their inestimable privileges. I have to bespeak 
 your respect and regard for your individual masters, and for the 
 rector as the head of the establishment. This will be a reward 
 and encouragement to your teachers, and it will smooth the 
 rugged path of hard study to yourselves. They can have no 
 greater pleasure than to observe your steady and increasing pro- 
 gress in knowledge and in virtue ; and while they labour to rear 
 in this place an altar to science, and literature, and truth, each 
 of you is invited to light his torch at its eternal fires, and to go 
 forth into a benighted world to enlighten its darkness, to dissi- 
 pate its gloom, and to shed joy and gladness wherever Provi- 
 dence may be pleased to cast your lot. 
 
 Dr BOYD rose and said My Lord Provost and Gentlemen of 
 the Town-Council Allow me, in the name of the masters and of 
 the pupils of the High School, to express to you our entire satis- 
 faction with the announcement you have now made, and to offer 
 you our warmest acknowledgments for the anxiety, judgment, and 
 impartiality with which you have discharged, on this occasion, 
 the important duty that devolved on you as the patrons of our 
 establishment. The exercise of high and responsible patronage 
 is at no time a trivial or easy matter. And in the present in- 
 stance the difficulty was increased an hundred-fold by the cha- 
 racter and status of the distinguished individual whose place you 
 were called to supply. To such a man, it was an arduous task 
 to find a suitable successor. My Lord, Dr Schmitz, the object
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 267 
 
 of your choice, is known to every man amongst us who has the 
 smallest pretensions to literature or to scholarship, as one of the 
 most laborious and most useful writers of our time. We know, 
 too, from the tenor of his writings, that in the performance of 
 his duties he will ever keep steadily in view the great purposes 
 of education, the cultivation of the intellect and the ameliora- 
 tion of the heart. Entertaining these sentiments and hopes, we 
 are prepared to give him a cordial welcome, and to assure him of 
 our hearty co-operation in every effort he may make to maintain 
 the discipline, to promote the welfare, and to elevate the charac- 
 ter of the High School. 
 
 DB SCHMITZ said, My Lord and Gentlemen, this day is for 
 me one of the happiest of my life ; for a distinction has been 
 conferred upon me, to which, a few months ago, I should scarcely 
 have ventured to aspire. The fact that you have conferred the 
 honour upon me, is the highest and most gratifying testimony of 
 your confidence that could have been given to me ; and I consider 
 it a great honour, not only to me personally, but to the country 
 in which I was born and educated. I hope this appointment will 
 be the means of strengthening and increasing that intellectual 
 sympathy which has so long existed between this country and 
 Germany. As for myself, it will ever be my most anxious care, 
 in the office which I am about to undertake, to deserve and in- 
 crease that confidence which you have so liberally placed in me. 
 My own happiness and welfare are now so intimately connected 
 with the prosperity of the High School, that it will be both my 
 duty and my delight to devote to it all my energy, and all the 
 power I may possess. I am not, however, insensible to the great 
 difficulties of my new position, as the successor of such eminent 
 men as Dr Adam, Professor Pillans, and Dr Carson, the two 
 last of whom still continue to be bright ornaments of the city of 
 Edinburgh. I have the happiness and honour of being acquainted 
 with both, and both have been kind enough to assist me with 
 their advice, and initiate me into the ordinary business of the 
 school ; and it will be my object, in all essential points, to walk 
 in the footsteps of those worthy and learned men, and to be 
 guided by their experience. But as the exertions of the rector 
 are limited to his own class, and as the state of that class mainly 
 depends upon the success of those masters to whom the care of
 
 268 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the other classes is confided, it is obvious that the rector, what- 
 ever may be his talent and skill as a teacher, can exercise but a 
 limited influence upon the whole establishment ; and its pros- 
 perity, therefore, depends more upon the combined efforts and 
 skill of all the masters, than on those of any one in particular. 
 It is, therefore, to my learned colleagues that I must look for the 
 necessary support and assistance, in order to be able to carry out 
 fully and efficiently the system of instruction which has spread 
 the fame of the High School over all parts of Europe. From 
 what has already been said this day by your Lordship and my 
 learned colleague, and from the generous letter of Mr Gunn, 1 
 which was published some time ago, I feel assured that all my 
 colleagues will heartily co-operate with me, and will unite their 
 endeavours to mine to promote the interests of the School. I 
 hope I shall not be found wanting in the cultivation of that cor- 
 dial harmony, which is so essential in all cases in which a number 
 of persons are working together for the same purposes, and with 
 the same objects in view, but in none more than in the manage- 
 ment of an educational establishment. Let us therefore join all 
 our powers, my learned colleagues, faithfully and honestly to dis- 
 charge the duties of our noble office I say our noble office for 
 I scarcely know of any nobler or more elevating occupation, than 
 to labour for the improvement of the minds of the young, and 
 to make the rising generation wiser and happier than the past 
 and the present. The attainment of this end, which we must 
 steadily keep in view, no human exertions can ensure, and we 
 must look to a kind Providence to bless our labours and make 
 them fruitful. 
 
 I have now to add a few words to you, my young friends, to 
 Avhose moral and intellectual improvement my life will hence- 
 forth be devoted. The relation between master and pupil is one 
 that ought to be based upon affection and esteem. Such feel- 
 ings, however, can only result from actual intercourse ; and I, 
 who am yet a stranger to you, have no claims to them ; but I 
 hope both to win and to inspire those feelings, though I am fully 
 aware that it will not be an easy matter for me, as I am suc- 
 
 1 Mr Gunn was a candidate for the Rectorship, but withdrew in fa- 
 vour of Dr Schmitz.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 269 
 
 ceeding to a man who, according to the unanimous testimony of 
 all who have been so fortunate as to enjoy his instruction, was 
 not only a most able and faithful teacher, but a real friend and 
 almost a father to his pupils. All that I desire for the first is, 
 that you may feel confidence in me, and that you may be assured 
 that all my actions toward you proceed from my sincere desire to 
 benefit you both morally and intellectually. 
 
 Dr Schmitz, ever since his admission, by unremitting 
 exertions in the class, and by his learned publications, 1 
 continues to raise his own character and that of the semi- 
 nary over which he so worthily presides. He visits, in 
 rotation, the classes of the other masters once a week, at 
 an hour when he is not required to meet his own pupils. 
 Dr Carson's practice, at the monthly examinations of the 
 four classes, was as follows : When he went into the par- 
 ticular class, the master of that class repaired to the fifth 
 class. On entering, the rector put the question to the 
 dux, what had been read since he had last paid the class a 
 visit ? He then selected a passage read by them within 
 that period as the subject of examination, The object of 
 the questions put upon the passage translated, was to 
 ascertain generally the progress of the class in grammati- 
 cal, historical, or geographical knowledge, so far as this 
 could be discovered in the course of a brief and cursory 
 investigation. Dr Schmitz adopts a different plan, in 
 order that he may have the advantage of witnessing the 
 mode of tuition of his colleagues, and likewise of watch- 
 ing the progress of all the scholars attending the High 
 School. 
 
 On the 15th of February 1848, the patrons resolved, 
 that none of the classical masters should accept of any si- 
 
 1 Dr Schmitz, since the list of the works subjoined to the Memoir was 
 printed (APPENDIX, pp. 78-82), has prepared a Grammar of the Latin 
 Language, which has been published in connexion with Chambers's 
 Educational Course.
 
 270 THE niSTORt OF THE 
 
 tutation whilst he meant to retain his office in this semi- 
 nary. In the month of August in the same year, the High 
 School sustained a heavy loss, in consequence of the sud- 
 den death of Mr William W. Carmichael. He was an ex- 
 cellent man, and a very successful teacher. 1 His accom- 
 plished nephew, Mr John Carmichael, was chosen to suc- 
 ceed him in September following. 
 
 In addition to the instructions in elementary science 
 given by the classical masters, the town-council agreed, in 
 January 1849, that instruction and lectures on Natural 
 History and Chemistry should be introduced into the High 
 School curriculum. Two gentlemen of approved reputa- 
 tion as instructors in science, have been chosen. Mr Wil- 
 liam Rhind has been selected to give lectures on Natural 
 History, and Dr John Murray on Chemistry. To each 
 branch is allotted a term of eleven lessons, to be given on 
 the Saturdays, between 11 and 12, attendance being op- 
 tional. Mr Rhind commenced his first series of lectures to 
 the junior boys on the 3d of March, and is receiving every 
 encouragement. Dr Murray's lectures to the senior pupils 
 commence on the 19th of May ensuing. A taste for 
 these important branches will be infused ; and, above all, 
 the patrons will be able to judge, from the present trial, 
 whether it is practicable or advisable to extend the plan 
 in future sessions. 
 
 A museum of natural history is about to be formed : 
 and from old High School scholars and others, contribu- 
 tions will be peculiarly acceptable. And in reference to 
 contributions, it occurs to us further, that the library might 
 be considerably augmented, were former pupils who are 
 authors to present a copy of their works, as a grateful me- 
 morial of their early connection with this school. 
 
 It is a subject of regret, that a seminary which has 
 
 i See APP. p. ill.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH. 271 
 
 flourished for centuries, actually does not at this moment 
 possess more than three portraits of those distinguished 
 men who have laboured within its walls. We sincerely 
 hope, that additions will soon be made to the admirable 
 portraits of Dr Adam, Professor Pillans, and Dr Carson, 
 the only memoinals of the kind which now adorn the great 
 hall of the High School. Gifts of original portraits or 
 busts of eminent teachers and of celebrated pupils, will, 
 we are sure, be duly prized. 
 
 The excellent seminary, whose various fortunes we have 
 now endeavoured to delineate, has long proved an un- 
 speakable blessing to the community. We have seen that 
 the sons of the wealthiest among the aristocracy and of the 
 humbler citizens have ever found ready admission to its 
 forms; and, unconscious of any superiority save that 
 which talents and assiduity can confer, have appeared side 
 by side striving to emulate each other. We have shown 
 that the discipline is admirable, based upon a principle of 
 mingled firmness and gentleness. Not a few individuals 
 occupying important stations in society, have been in- 
 debted to this school for much of the knowledge which 
 they possess. Its pupils of all professions are scattered 
 over the globe. It were easy, pleasant, and useful, did our 
 limits permit, to enlarge on the merits of the departed who 
 signalized themselves in public life ; nor would it be less 
 agreeable to speak of the eminent qualities which charac- 
 terize many of the living. To the city of Edinburgh this 
 ancient and illustrious seminary of classical learning is, in 
 every respect, a distinguished ornament. Our earnest 
 prayer is, that to latest ages, by a succession of able, con- 
 scientious, and effective teachers like the present, it may 
 receive from all classes that patronage which it so pre- 
 eminently merits.
 
 ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH, 
 
 MAKCH 1848. 
 
 Patrons. 
 THE LORD PROVOST, MAGISTRATES, AND TOWN COUNCIL. 
 
 Rector. 
 LEONHARD SCHMITZ, P H . D., F.R.S.E. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 JAMES BOYD, LL.D., F.S.A., SCOT. FOURTH CLASS. 
 WILLIAM M. GUNN, F.S.A., SCOT. THIRD CLASS. 
 JOHN MACMILLAN, M.A., F.S.A., SCOT. FIRST CLASS. 
 JOHN CARMICHAEL. SECOND CLASS. 
 
 French. VICTOR DE FIVAS. 
 
 German. CARL EDUARD AUE, PH. D. 
 
 Writing and Book-Keeping. WILLIAM COOPER. 
 
 Arithmetic and Mathematics. WILLIAM MOFFAT. 
 
 Lecturer on Natural History. WILLIAM RHIND, M.R.C.S. 
 
 Lecturer on Chemistry. JOHN MURRAY, M.D., F.R.C.S.E. 
 
 ) GEORGE ROLAND. 
 Fencing and Gymnastics. > 
 
 ) GEORGE ROLAND, JCN. 
 
 Janitor. DONALD SINCLAIR.
 
 IN THE JUNIOR CLASSES OF THE HIGH SCHOOL 
 OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 (FUBNISHED BY MR GUNN, ONE OF THE MASTERS.) 
 
 IT is difficult, perhaps impossible, to give a full and perfect 
 account of a comprehensive system of education, such as 
 that pursued in the High School. So much depends on 
 the life imparted by the Master, and there is necessarily 
 and properly so great a variety in the details of the differ- 
 ent classes, that he only who personally witnesses them, 
 can understand the entire working of the machinery in its 
 several parts. But, in the following sketch, an attempt is 
 made to picture to a stranger an outline at least of the inner 
 fabric of this ancient school. 
 
 We may begin with a boy commencing his First year of 
 classical study. It is to be noticed at the outset, that 
 though, as will be shown, it would be difficult to give more 
 attention than is here done to the other pursuits that ought 
 to occupy the mind of a boy, the High School is essen- 
 tially a Classical Seminary. In accordance with this prin- 
 ciple, every pupil must attend the Classics, and along with 
 them those instructions in English and Science, which we 
 shall hereafter particularize, an opportunity, at the same 
 time, being given him of advancing in religious knowledge. 
 For several reasons, which we are not called to specify 
 here, attendance on the other classes is left to the discre- 
 tion of the parents and guardians of the pupils. This dis- 
 cretion, as may be supposed, is very variously exercised, 
 from different causes. A boy may be enrolled at any time of 
 his studies or of the year, the Rector examining him and 
 
 s
 
 274 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 
 
 pronouncing him fit to join one or other of the classes. But 
 it is obviously expedient to adopt some illustrative examples, 
 and conduct their subjects through the various stages, till 
 they leave the school, having there acquired so much know- 
 ledge and training as it is fitted or designed to impart. 
 
 A parent, then, has a boy who is able to read an ordi- 
 nary English book with tolerable facility, and, as in most 
 actual cases, has acquired an acquaintance with the ele- 
 ments of English grammar, and such other branches as are 
 generally taught in our English schools. He may be eight 
 years old, or he may be twelve, but we may assume the 
 average as ten. Some time before the beginning of October, 
 the days having been previously announced in the news- 
 papers, the father takes by the hand the boy trembling 
 with diffidence and pride to take this his first step in ad- 
 vance and they wend their way to the Matriculation room 
 of the High School. Here one of the Masters or a deputy 
 generally an old dux is busy distributing Matriculation 
 tickets to the eager throng. The name and place of birth 
 are registered, for a future historian of the High School to 
 identify with this neophyte, it may be, a proud name in 
 science, or literature, or art, or public usefulness, and the 
 entrant receives his passport to this new region of learning. 
 On the first of October, at nine o'clock in the morning, 
 the bell, which has been silent for two long months, again 
 awakens the echoes of the Calton Hill, and each Master 
 repairs to his class-room, to enrol in his list, with all the 
 accompaniments of age, and place of residence, and of pre- 
 vious instruction, those who are consigned to his particular 
 care, and who continue with him during the whole pre- 
 paratory curriculum of four years, till they enter the Rec- 
 tor's class. The First Class boy presents, as do the others, 
 his matriculation ticket, is enrolled a High School boy, and 
 takes, for the first time, his seat on those forms which have 
 borne the persons of many now active and useful men, and
 
 IN THE JUNIOR CLASSES. 275 
 
 many more gone to their account. But he must have more 
 than a mere Classical and English Education. He will re- 
 quire, in this busy trafficking world of ours, to know some- 
 thing of accounts, and he has exercises to write in the school, 
 and letters, perhaps books to write, when he is older, and so 
 he walks away to the Arithmetical Master to be enrolled 
 for Arithmetic, and with the Writing Master he is entered 
 for Writing. 
 
 The papers, elsewhere inserted, 1 sufficiently indicate the 
 books with which he is to provide himself, and the hours 
 during which he is required to attend the various branches 
 of study. We confine ourselves here to the general facts, 
 and not the minute details. 
 
 Each returning morning he is to be seen with his books 
 strapped round his breast, with shining morning face, not 
 " creeping like snail unwillingly to school," but smiling as 
 well as shining. He has j oined a knot of his friends, some of 
 his own and some of other classes. They are discussing their 
 sports, the merits of their teachers, the place gained yester- 
 day, the lessons and hopes of the day ; and now they enter 
 the iron gate that opens to them the temple of knowledge. 
 They sport on the spacious playground, with that happy 
 zest which youth only knows, and which we all delight to 
 see and encourage, when lo ! with sturdy arm, the Janitor 
 rings the note of business, and the groups throng to their 
 various quarters. The solemn prayer the blessed Word 
 of God, who alone teacheth savingly and to profit and 
 then to the secular work of the day. Our entrant let us, 
 in the mean time, cling to him has his Rudiments to say, 
 which he is required, as he is with regard to all his other 
 lessons, to prepare before coming to school. Then there 
 is a lesson in Geography ; or Roman History is examined 
 on ; or he reads aloud a portion of English prose or verse ; 
 or he is called on to write some choice piece of poetry : 
 i See pp. 302-304.
 
 276 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 
 
 or he parses and analyses an English sentence ; or he spells 
 orally or to dictation. Once a-week, in addition to the 
 ordinary daily reading and brief explanation of the Scrip- 
 tures, he goes more formally through a portion of Old or 
 New Testament biography, with the occasional addition of a 
 paraphrase or psalm repeated. And also, once a-week, 
 he enters on the acquirement of such a degree of knowledge 
 of the nomenclature, and the facts of elementary science, 
 as shall, carried through a course of six years, fit him to 
 grapple with the abstruser parts and more recondite distinc- 
 tions of advanced science, whether in a university or in 
 practical life. All this takes up, in various proportions, 
 four hours of each working day, except Saturday, on which 
 he is sent from his occupations after only two hours' work. 
 Giving a general view of the system, it is difficult to fix the 
 precise hours at which each department is taken up. But 
 the following statement furnishes an approximation to the 
 general result under the Classical Master : 
 
 Total hours of attendance during the week, 22 
 
 Classics, 12 
 
 12 
 
 Non Classical. English, as above ex- 
 plained, . . 6 
 
 Religious Instruction, 2^ 
 
 Elementary Science, 1^ 
 
 10 
 
 22 1 
 
 1 Or, anticipating the statement of the time bestowed on Writing and 
 Arithmetic, it may be thus stated, 
 
 Total hours of attendance during the week, . . 32 
 Classics, 12 
 
 12 
 Non Classical. English 10 
 
 Writing, .... 5 
 Arithmetic, ... 5 
 
 20 
 
 32
 
 Et THE JUNIOR CLASSES. 277 
 
 Each boy is encouraged to perform his duty by all the 
 means within the reach of the Teacher. An active and a 
 stirring competition is constantly going on both as to pre- 
 paration at home, and quickness, ingenuity, thoughtful- 
 ness, and attention in school. The same system pervades 
 the English as the purely Classical department, and no boy 
 can hold a high rank in his class, who does not attend to 
 his English as well as his Classical studies. Punctuality 
 of attendance is enjoined, and, so far as is possible, enforced. 
 Variety and change of employment prevent wearisomeness. 
 Private admonition is employed first of all to rouse the 
 slothful ; and those who fall behind, are brought up by 
 extra instruction till they can march abreast of their school- 
 fellows. 
 
 The forenoon is spent, and it is now nearly eleven. In 
 order to the door march steadily the various ranks, all 
 honour paid to the worthier. The door reached, the sacred 
 privileges of the playground warrant the leap, the run, the 
 shout, the game. Take speedily, my friend, your hasty re- 
 fresher, the roll or the biscuit, enter rapidly into the game, 
 for you must leave it soon. And now there you are seated 
 again. You are with the writing-master, who is taking 
 pains to bestow on you the theory and practice of distinct 
 (it is your own fault if not elegant) penmanship. 
 
 Again, at twelve, a brief interval, and then the two 
 afternoon hours till two, with the Classical Master, carry- 
 ing on the work already specified. 
 
 At two, after a run and shout, begins the Arithmetic. 
 Different stages of advancement have been attained by 
 some, and some are beginners. So our youth must take his 
 place with his arithmetical compeers. All are formed into 
 classes. The various powers of the numerals are ex- 
 plained and developed on the black board ; illustrative 
 examples are given, and oral and written answers required 
 from the pupil. The theory of the rules is carefully gone
 
 278 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 
 
 over, and a similar application is made. The slate is in 
 constant requisition. According to combined accuracy 
 and rapidity on the whole of the examples given out 
 during the hour, places are assigned at the end. And ex- 
 ercises are prescribed on stated days, which must be solved 
 at home, and the operation fairly written out is brought to 
 the class, and examined by the Master. 
 
 The day's work is done, and homeward hies the youth, 
 to report progress, to refresh himself with the needful food 
 and play, and prepare for the work of the morrow. But 
 his recreation need not be all bodily play. To say nothing 
 of his own resources, the High School library furnishes 
 him with books, carefully selected by the Masters, where- 
 with he may travel, or commune with the great or good, 
 or be stimulated to what is excellent and lofty by the 
 deeds of the men of a former time ; or have his taste, his 
 fancy, and his imagination formed and directed by the 
 spirits that God hath endowed with the feeling and the 
 power of expression, which, when combined in due degree, 
 man honours with the name of genius. 
 
 So pass six months of the year. But spring has come, 
 and the lengthening day enjoys a longer morning as well as 
 afternoon. And so it is deemed fit that our youth may, 
 if he so choose, take his arithmetic from eight to nine, or 
 from three to four, and thus from two to three is given, for 
 four months of the year, to the Classical Master. Thus 
 he adds about four hours each week to the study of the 
 Classics. Our friend has by this time advanced so far 
 through the Rudiments revising, and his ground con- 
 stantly made sure by every species of exercise, employing 
 the memory, the judgment, the ingenuity, quickness, accu- 
 racy, inventiveness that he has ventured on the transla- 
 tion of some easy Latin book. And the additional hour 
 comes in to give increased time for careful analysis, 
 gradually becoming more minute as his knowledge in-
 
 IX THE JUNIOR CLASSES. 279 
 
 creases. The general structure of the sentence the pecu- 
 liar power and property of the Latin terminations the 
 affinity of the vocables with English derivatives va- 
 rieties of expression, training in the application of the 
 grammar all these occupy attention, and exercise the 
 mind. And still further, to lay a firm basis, the " Gram- 
 matical Exercises " are sometimes employed to furnish both 
 teacher and pupil with examples, and regularly to drill, 
 especially in that thorough use of the verb, without which 
 all teaching of language is vain. 
 
 The pupils have also begun the practice of English 
 Composition, and this requires some time. Short narra- 
 tives told by the Master, on which the boys are examined, 
 to ascertain that they are in possession of the facts, are 
 written out at home, brought to school, and places are 
 awarded on a comparative estimate of their accuracy and 
 neatness of composition and spelling, and the carefulness 
 of their penmanship. 
 
 A few months before the close of the year the precise 
 time varying according to the judgment of the teacher 
 the places held by each boy at the close of the day are 
 carefully marked. According to the average place derived 
 from this, our hero is finally ranked a few days before 
 the end of July. Has he been industrious, and attentive ; 
 and is he of tolerable parts ? He will then probably have 
 a prize, as these incentives to excellence are given in the 
 proportion of one to every four on the roll. It has before 
 been stated, that the places are taken according to a joint 
 estimate of the whole studies carried on through the day. 
 But still further to lead to excellence in the more general 
 branches, in addition to the ordinary prizes, which are 
 the rewards of exertion on the whole curriculum as 
 the Classics there preponderate, special prizes are given 
 on subjects connected with the non-classical work, as 
 in Reading and Recitation, Geography, Scripture know-
 
 280 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 
 
 ledge, or such other subjects as each Master, in the exer- 
 cise of his own judgment, may think proper. 
 
 The year is now about to be wound up. The places 
 fire all finally arranged, the special prizes awarded, and 
 all thoughts are fixed on two most interesting days, the 
 closing days of the year. On the first of them, after two 
 hours' preliminary work by the Classical Master, our 
 youth, smiling and excited, takes his parents to the Great 
 Hall and there, in due order, are the specimens of his 
 writing, which show the very best that he can do. This is 
 duly commented on he is praised or blamed, and his suc- 
 cess is compared with that of others. Then he is sum- 
 moned to a class-room, where the Arithmetical Master, 
 with the board all shining black, is waiting. A few theo- 
 retical questions are asked. Then examples are given by 
 the examiners. Thick and fast fly the strokes of the pencil 
 slate rapidly crosses slate there are there quick eyes, and 
 rapid thoughts, and swift manipulations and the time is 
 over, before we had well known it had begun. There are 
 there the honourable the Patrons, the Professors, the 
 Clergy, and others interested in the welfare of the youth of 
 Scotland's metropolis. At this stage of his studies, our 
 young friend is not interested directly in the French or 
 German Classes, the examination of which goes on at an 
 after period of this first day. But we may enter without 
 him and hear the translations, the dialogues, and the re- 
 citations, which delight the ears of the admiring auditors. 
 
 Still greater, however, is the excitement and the crowd 
 on the moiTow. Then the Classical Masters and the pupils 
 are to show to the satisfaction, not of parents only, but of 
 the examiners, who for hours investigate in the presence of 
 the public the acquirements which have been made, that the 
 year's work has not been in vain. And, when this search- 
 ing work is over, our friend, with the others, marches in 
 due order into the Great Hall. Before his entrance with
 
 IN THE JUNIOR CLASSES. 281 
 
 his fellows, the benches are crowded with fond and anxious 
 friends. As each fresh class appears, there is a buzz and 
 a recognition. Only the inner space is at last unoccupied. 
 A door is thrown open. Then enter sword and mace, 
 and magistracy in its robes, and attendant examiners, who 
 take their places round yonder table covered with books, 
 the gifts of the Corporation, and glittering with medals, 
 silver and gold. Prize exercises are read the Lord Pro- 
 vost, the representative of the interests of the City, ex- 
 presses in language, often at once fit, graceful, and gratify- 
 ing, the love that the Corporation bears this, one of its 
 most cherished institutions, and the prizes gladden some 
 and stimulate others. Then the holidays are announced. 
 During August and September our youth may roam over 
 mountain and moor, and he cornes back to hear again, on 
 the 1st of October, the booming bell, that tells him to re- 
 turn to that labour, which he feels, though he may not be 
 able or perhaps willing to express his thoughts, constitutes 
 after all the chief part of his enjoyment. 
 
 We need not carry this out minutely during the two 
 years immediately subsequent. The hours are the same, 
 and, mutatis mutandis, so are the subjects, with the ne- 
 cessary change of the books appropriated to each year. 
 Of course, additional lines are added to what has been 
 gone over, impressions are deepened, the quantity of 
 work is increased, and increasingly difficult, as well as 
 more numerous, exercises are enjoined. Thus, in the 
 classical department, the Latin rules of gender and pro- 
 sody are acquired and applied translations and ab- 
 stracts of portions of the Latin works read (this, per- 
 haps, should belong more properly to English Compo- 
 sition), are regularly prescribed, along with Exercises 
 in Latin, and the minute completion of the Grammati- 
 cal Exercises. Again, in English Composition, the Ex- 
 ercises become more various, embracing topographical
 
 282 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 
 
 descriptions, voyages, specimens of the various kinds of 
 epistolary correspondence, and such other topics as suggest 
 themselves, from their utility and adaptation to the pur- 
 poses of education. The Geography becomes more minute. 
 The History passes from Rome to Greece. The study of 
 the Scriptures is varied with the study of the Evidences of 
 the Christian Religion, and the Elementary Science be- 
 comes more specific. Higher excellence and elegance are 
 aimed at in reading and recitation. Above all, one point 
 begins to be more distinct in the second year that of dif- 
 ference either in the power or the actuality of intellectual 
 attainment. A Master is of course bound, in the work 
 which he requires of all, to have regard to the general 
 average powers of his class. Now, it is clear that, hav- 
 ing this in view, the more active, or the better-gifted intel- 
 lects, will have, after their ordinary work is finished, 
 enough and to spare of time. Here we commence the en- 
 couragement of voluntary effort, which may expend itself 
 in various ways, in the practice of composition, in the 
 drawing of maps, in general drawing, in additional trans- 
 lation in short, in any exercise which may both pro- 
 fitably employ our pupils, and enable us to discover the 
 bent of their minds, and for what they are peculiarly 
 fitted. And once more, our friend is expected and required 
 to write in a better style (the Classical Master aiding the 
 Master of Writing in rejecting carelessly or ill- written 
 exercises) ; he is initiated in the mysteries of pen-making, 
 and his attention is turned to the rules that regulate Cali- 
 graphy. In Arithmetic he is similarly advancing, and his 
 Exercises to be done at home are both more numerous and 
 more difficult. Attention is paid to Mental Arithmetic, and, 
 in general, to the prospect which the boys may have of ap- 
 plying their arithmetical practice in the various walks of life. 
 There is one important addition in the Third year, which 
 requires special notice it is the study of Greek, which is
 
 IN THE JUNIOR CLASSES. 283 
 
 then begun. By this time, two results, it is expected, 
 have been arrived at. The pupil has now enough of an 
 English training to enable him to dispense with two hours 
 a-week especially as his more numerous Exercises in 
 Composition may be deemed to be more than equivalent 
 to this time. And, during the previous two years, he has 
 been so trained in the Latin, that he can spare from it 
 two hours more for the first six months. So that we have 
 this re-adjustment of time, under the Classical Master, for 
 the Third year : 
 
 Total hours of attendance during each week, . 22 
 Classics, Latin, . . . 10 
 Greek, ... 4 
 
 14 
 
 Non-Classical. English, ... 4 
 Religious Instruction, 2 
 
 Elementary Science, . l 
 
 8 
 22 
 
 The same addition of nearly an hour daily in the last 
 four months of the Third year, as it has been stated, occurs 
 in the First (and as also takes place in the Second), gives 
 us eleven hours weekly for the Latin, and seven hours 
 weekly for the Greek. In the latter language, it is ex- 
 pected that by the end of the Third year the outlines of 
 the rudiments have been gone over with thorough accuracy, 
 and that some progress has been made in translation. 
 
 In sketching the work of the Fourth year, we may now 
 drop our early friend, and be introduced to a youth who has 
 acquired his education thus far at some other school, provin- 
 cial or metropolitan. "We shall enter the yards, with his 
 father and him, on the 1st of October. He is duly matricu- 
 lated, and they seek the Rector. " How long has he studied 
 Greek and Latin ? Who was his teacher ? What books 
 has he read ? What can he do, and what does he know ?
 
 284 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 
 
 * 
 
 Let me hear him read a little. Ah ! well, that will do 
 he is fit to enter the Fourth class." The Master of the 
 Fourth class enters his name. His heart sinks at the sight of 
 so many strangers. He is, however, introduced to some 
 one of the most courteous of the class, whose business it is 
 to show him the lions, and make him free of the yards. 
 There is no fear of him. Come back in a few weeks, and 
 you will not be able to distinguish him from the indige- 
 nous race. It may be, that in some of the minutiae of 
 the elementary details, he has not gone over the same 
 groundwork ; perhaps he has not had the same text-book 
 as the class ; but a little extra work soon puts that all to 
 rights, and he is battling his way to knowledge and dis- 
 tinction like the rest. In his Greek, he prosecutes more 
 minutely what he has already commenced, the study of 
 the elementary portion of the language, and, well drilled 
 in the simple and elegant narrative of Xenophon, he is 
 gradually acquiring a taste for, and a knowledge of, the 
 structure, the peculiarities, and beauties of the most flex- 
 ible and expressive language in which man ever attempted 
 to clothe human thought. In Latin, he not only rises 
 to more difficult authors, but he systematically adds 
 Antiquities, and more of Ancient Geography. His syn- 
 tactical exercises increase in difficulty and variety. Above 
 all, he commences the practice of Latin verse composition. 
 No doubt his first attempts are feeble enough. So must 
 those have been of the best the Tentamina Metrica of 
 George Buchanan himself, might furnish abundant mate- 
 rials for the critic's sneer. But he is persevering ; his 
 Master encourages him ; and he manfully piles up longs 
 on shorts, and shorts on longs, till a neat little temple to the 
 Muses a very toy, but still of promising construction 
 rises, to his own great astonishment and delight. Then 
 he reads and recites a little of English Greece unfolds 
 her history he tries English verse draws a few maps
 
 IN THE JUNIOR CLASSES. 285 
 
 and has weekly exercises in English composition, of a 
 more ambitious and elaborate nature than those attempted 
 in the Third Class. Nor is his Bible neglected. He is de- 
 lighted to have explained to him those usages, physical 
 features, and other peculiarities of the East and of Eastern 
 life, which enable him intelligently to peruse the "Word of 
 Life. And, guided by his Master, he follows Porteus's 
 Evidences of the Truth of Christianity, the allusions being 
 explained, the arguments expanded, cleared up, and illus- 
 trated, thus learning, as we all should, " to give a reason 
 for the hope that is in him." 
 
 But all this requires extra time; and the youths of the 
 Fourth Class are of a more stalwart frame than they of 
 the First. Thus they have allotted to them about four 
 hours more each week, their hours now being from nine to 
 twelve, and one to three, with a short interval for neces- 
 sary recreation. This period is generally thus occupied : 
 
 Total hours of attendance during the week, 26 
 
 Classical. Latin, ... 12 
 Greek, ... 7 
 
 19 
 
 Non-Classical. English, . . 3 
 
 Religious Instruction, 2 
 
 Elementary Science, l 
 
 7 
 26 
 
 What other studies is he to pursue ? If he writes ill, 
 he must have Writing along with his Arithmetic, and that 
 will suffice ; for seven hours daily at school is enough for 
 most boys. Or, he is to assist his father in business in a few 
 years, and he must go through a course of Book-keeping. 
 Many of our youths do this, and complete the course of 
 Single and Double Entry. But perhaps he writes dis- 
 tinctly ; he does not care for Book-keeping, and the French 
 may be useful to him. Well, let him take the Arithmetic
 
 286 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 
 
 and the French. He is now able to look forward in the 
 former to pass through a complete system, as many of our 
 youths do. Nay, we may anticipate, and in imagination 
 see him, in the Rector's Class. And from the various 
 departments of Arithmetic shall he then pass through 
 Fractions, both Vulgar and Decimal, Exchange, Brokerage, 
 even up to Algebra ; and before he leaves our precincts, 
 he may, as many have done, advance in the last as far as 
 Quadratic Equations ; and in Geometry, through the Six 
 Books of Euclid, with Plane Trigonometry and its various 
 applications, and even through an elementary course of 
 Conic Sections. And all this while he shall be carried on 
 by a love of knowledge, by the craving of the mind after 
 further views of the true and demonstrable, and by keen 
 and honourable competition. In French, through gram- 
 mar, and translation, and conversations, he is gradually 
 led till his Master will be ashamed of him, if he cannot 
 translate at sight, and make his way through France, with 
 no other difficulty than the diffidence natural to ingenuous 
 youth, especially in a foreign land. But perhaps, after all, 
 it is the German that key to all that is full and searching, 
 as well as profound in thought and philology that he as- 
 pires to know. He will acquire the rudiments of that lan- 
 guage on Becker's system, the most thorough and philosophi- 
 cal of all, and by translations, exercises from English into 
 German, from German into English, as well as by original 
 compositions in German and conversation, he will be put 
 fairly in the way of becoming a thorough German scholar. 
 It is gratifying to know that the German Master is of 
 opinion, that not only do the boys among us make 'most 
 satisfactory progress, but that their pronunciation is pure 
 and correct. 
 
 Of course, all this is unattainable in one year. But a 
 parent can so spread it over the period of the curriculum, 
 that it shall be all attained. Perhaps French with Arith-
 
 IN THE JUNIOR CLASSES. 287 
 
 metic during the Fourth year ; l French and German on al- 
 ternate days, along with Elementary Geometry and Alge- 
 bra, during the first year of the Rector's course ; and Ger- 
 man and advanced Geometry and Algebra during the 
 Second year, might be recommended as a desirable ar- 
 rangement. 
 
 1 Then we should have as the whole time : 
 
 Total hours of attendance during the week, . . 36 
 
 Classics as before, ..... 19 
 
 Non-Classics. Under the Classical Master, . 7 
 
 Writing, or French or German, . 5 
 
 Arithmetic, ... 5 
 
 17 
 
 36 
 
 It may be well here to present, at the close of the Fourth year, a vidi- 
 mus of each year's work with reference to time. 
 
 Taking into account about eight weeks' holidays at the end of each 
 Session, the ten days of the Sacramental Holidays, the four Quarterly 
 days, a week at Christmas, and a few occasional days during the year, 
 ihere are left about forty working weeks. This gives, 
 
 For the first Two Years. 
 
 Classics 23 weeks at 12 hours each, ; . 276 
 
 17 16 . ' . 272 
 
 . 548 
 
 Non-Classics English, and other branches, as be- 
 fore stated, under the Classical 
 Master 40 weeks at io hours 
 each, .... 400 
 
 Writing and Arithmetic 40 Weeks at 10 hours 
 each, ..... 400 
 
 800 
 
 Total hours a-year, ..... 1348 
 
 For the Third Year. 
 
 Classics Latin. 23 weeks at 10 hours each, . 230 
 17 11 . . 187 
 
 417 
 
 Greek. 23 4 .92 
 
 17 7 . . 119 
 
 211 
 
 628
 
 288 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 
 
 It deserves to be noticed, that all this time the voluntary 
 work already referred to is going on among the boys. And 
 the Library is all the while opening its stores to them. 
 And Science is still further revealing its wonders before 
 them. Nor is their physical education neglected. Not 
 only is there spacious room in the yards with abundant 
 opportunities for exercise, but the classes for Gymnas- 
 tics and Fencing furnish facilities for acquiring pliancy of 
 limb and elegance of movement. Due provision is made, 
 also, for the needful supply of food. The Janitor keeps a 
 store of wholesome nourishment, with which he supplies 
 the applicants, rendered hungry by exercise and study. 
 
 And, here, it may be proper to say something of the 
 modes of discipline. As far as regards in-door discipline, 
 there being constant employment, every one having some- 
 thing to do, and a motive for doing it, there is little need 
 for correction of any kind, so far as general behaviour is 
 concerned. The main difficulty is that which is connected 
 with preparation at home. It is very puzzling sometimes to 
 discover whether a deficiency in the lessons arises from the 
 pupil's fault or his misfortune. When the idleness is indu- 
 
 Non-Classics Under the Classical Master. 40 
 
 weeks at 8 hours each. . . 320 
 
 Writing and Arithmetic. 40 weeks at 10 hours 
 each, . . . . . .400 
 
 720 
 
 Total hours in the Third Tear, .... 1348 
 
 For the Fourth Year. 
 
 Classics Latin. 40 weeks at 12 hours each, . 480 
 Greek. 7 . 280 
 
 760 
 
 Non-Classics Under the Classical Master. 40 
 
 weeks, at 7 hours each, . . 280 
 
 French 5 . 200 
 
 Arithmetic . 5 . . 200 
 
 680 
 
 Total hours in the Fourth Year, . . . 1440
 
 IN THE JUNIOR CLASSES. 289 
 
 bitable, gentle means are employed at first the work is 
 brought up at extra hours, or as, from the intimate blend- 
 ing of classes, that is sometimes impossible, it is made up 
 at home by extra work in the shape of writing. Corporal 
 punishment is not formally excluded from the school, but 
 it is rarely employed. To banish it entirely would be to 
 mistake the objects and means of discipline the abuse of it 
 is abhorrent from our system, and there are few temptations 
 to it : for, in truth, even our out-door offences are neither 
 numerous nor heinous. The Laws, 1 a copy of which is sub- 
 joined, are annually read over in the Hall to the assem- 
 bled classes, and enforced and commented on by the Rector 
 and Masters ; each boy is furnished with a copy, while 
 the constant, unobtrusive, inculcation of a kind and gentle 
 spirit, acts beneficially in suppressing coarseness and bru- 
 tality. Experience has so taught the boys, that while 
 there is the freest scope for innocent enjoyment, there 
 is a limit beyond which they shall not be allowed to pass, 
 that we have few complaints and fewer punishments. 
 
 But our friend of the Fourth Class is waiting all this time. 
 We shall now dismiss him, and hand him over to the Rec- 
 tor. Before this class leaves us, however, it may be asked 
 of us, in what state of preparation do you send forth these 
 youths ? 
 
 It is easy for men to deceive themselves as to the results 
 of that, to which their lives are devoted, and the world is 
 apt to be dazzled with the showy details of a system, which 
 actually is barren and unprofitable ; just as many a fabric 
 looks most imposing in the studio of the architect, which, 
 when reared, is found to be both tasteless and inconvenient. 
 It is for others to judge and tell of the results. But we may 
 be permitted to mention what is our aim. It is to train 
 thoroughly in the Classics, so far as our course goes ; to 
 
 1 See pp. 297-301.
 
 290 JUNIOR CLASSES. 
 
 ground completely in the elements of both Latin and Greek; 
 to employ them, besides, as an instrument to develope 
 thought, speech, taste, and imagination ; to show con- 
 stantly their intimate connection with the orthography, 
 the structure, and literature of our own country ; to incul- 
 cate, through their means, the general principles of gram- 
 mar, as applicable to all tongues, and especially to our own ; 
 in the study of the English language to keep up and extend 
 their knowledge, in reading, analyzing, composing, and 
 thoroughly understanding ; to show how chronology and 
 geography illustrate and are illustrated by history ; to 
 give the boy a taste for physical science, as well as pre- 
 pare the way for its extended pursuit ; and to hallow all 
 this with instructions in that Word which sanctifies the 
 soul. And during this process, our youths are acquiring 
 other departments of knowledge. They are fitting them- 
 selves for the practical pursuits of life. In writing, arith- 
 metic, and the modern languages, they are profitably va- 
 rying their employments. Their bodies are acquiring 
 pliancy, and strength, and health. We have constantly 
 in view the disciplining of their faculties, so that they 
 may, of themselves, continue the process which we have 
 begun ; our design is to lay a firm and extended founda- 
 tion, on which may be reared the fresh materials, fur- 
 nished to them by the industrious exercise of their own 
 talents. To attain all this is our aim. That we some- 
 times fail in completely realizing our hopes, must be con- 
 fessed ; but an approach to success in an object so im- 
 portant, would be, even in the midst of partial failure, a 
 mighty consolation and support. 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL, EDINBURGH, September 1848.
 
 SYSTEM OF EDUCATION 
 
 PURSUED 
 
 IN THE RECTOR'S CLASS, 
 
 (FURNISHED BY DR SCHMITZ.) 
 
 THE Rector's Class, it must be borne in mind, consists of 
 two divisions, forming the fifth and sixth, or the. two highest 
 forms or classes of the establishment. These two classes 
 are indeed combined in Latin, History, Geography, Science, 
 and English Composition, but in Greek they are kept dis- 
 tinct ; and while one division is engaged in the class, the 
 other is at liberty either to go home, or to attend the 
 Writing, Mathematical, French, German, or any other 
 class, which may be going on at the time. 
 
 The business of the class is opened daily with a short 
 prayer, and the subjects of instruction vary every hour, so 
 that every day, five different subjects are taken up. 
 
 The instruction in Latin, in which the more difficult and 
 critical questions are addressed to the senior, and the less 
 difficult to the junior boys, consists in reading the higher 
 Latin authors, such as Cicero, Livy, Tacitus, Horace, Vir- 
 gil, &c., in writing Latin translations, the English of which 
 is dictated to the boys, and the Latin is written without the 
 help of either Dictionary or Grammar ; in extempore trans- 
 lation of some English author into Latin ; and occasionally 
 in writing original Latin Essays, both in prose and verse. 
 In reading the Latin authors every opportunity is taken 
 to explain to the pupils any historical, antiquarian, or geo- 
 graphical subject which may be thought necessary to make 
 them thoroughly understand the passage under consideration. 
 
 One hour every week is devoted to a minute study of
 
 292 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 
 
 the Syntax of the Latin language, and a second hour to the 
 correction of the Latin versions, where every boy may ask 
 for an explanation of the errors marked in his exercise, 
 and defend what he may consider right in opposition to 
 the monitor's 1 remarks. In Greek the senior and junior 
 classes combined read, every Monday morning from eight 
 to nine o'clock, about twelve verses of the New Testament 
 in Greek, which are explained in a strictly philological 
 way, without entering into any doctrinal questions. In 
 all other respects the two classes have their instructions in 
 Greek separate. The senior class read the highest Greek 
 authors, such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Plafo, Demos- 
 thenes, Plutarch, Isocrates, Homer, JEschylus, Sophocles, 
 Euripides, &c. ; and as the reading of these authors, which 
 is conducted in the same way as that of Latin authors, is 
 limited to five hours every week, the pupils are encouraged 
 to pursue besides a course of private reading, both in Latin 
 and Greek, which is pointed out and regulated by the Rec- 
 tor. The junior boys usually read in the class Xenophon's 
 Anabasis, the Memorabilia of Socrates, or the Cyropaedeia ; 
 but it is hoped that, in future, it may become practicable 
 also to read the Odyssey, with the boys of this class. On 
 Friday morning, from ten to eleven o'clock, both classes 
 write Greek exercises, the junior translating into Greek 
 the sentences in Dr Carson's Greek Exercises, and the 
 senior any historical pieces of which the English is dictated 
 to them. Both kinds of exercises are corrected and gone 
 over in the class, after they have passed through the hands 
 of the monitors, to prevent any mistake escaping the Rec- 
 tor's notice. One hour is devoted every week to the study 
 
 1 The first six boys of the class act as monitors ; their exercises are 
 corrected by the Rector himself, and they then mark the mistakes in 
 the exercises of the other boys. The first six boys are not the same 
 every week, every boy becoming monitor according to the merits of his 
 exercises.
 
 IN THE RECTOR'S CLASS. 293 
 
 of the Greek Grammar, especially the Syntax. As the 
 Saturday is half a holiday, the most diligent boys form 
 a voluntary class, for translating some Greek author into 
 Latin, and commenting upon it in Latin, for the purpose of 
 practising the speaking of Latin. The senior boys occa- 
 sionally write translations of English or Latin authors into 
 Greek prose or verse. Instruction in Greek and Latin 
 prosody is connected with the reading of the Greek and 
 Latin poets. 
 
 For History and Geography two hours are set apart 
 every week, and the course varies every year, one subject 
 only being taken up in each Session. One year, for ex- 
 ample, ancient history is studied in such a manner, as to 
 embrace, at the same time, a critical examination of the 
 sources of history, of geography, antiquities, the religion, 
 the social relations, &c., of the ancients ; another year the 
 history of the middle ages, or of modern times, is treated 
 of in the same manner; and sometimes geography and 
 ethnology are made the more prominent subjects of study. 
 No opportunity is lost in all these departments to guide 
 and direct the moral feelings of the boys, and to illustrate 
 the events of the past by comparing them with things fa- 
 miliar to the boys, whereby at once they become impressed 
 with the practical value of their studies. 
 
 The Elements of Science were last year introduced 
 as a regular branch of instruction in all the classes, and 
 the pupils in the Rector's Class are in future to receive in- 
 struction in the Elements of Astronomy. Only a com- 
 mencement could be made, as the books to be used were 
 not determined upon till some time after the beginning of 
 the Session. 
 
 There is one point which, perhaps, deserves to be set 
 forth prominently. As boys have not always the same 
 talent for all the subjects taught, and sometimes even no 
 great talent for any one of them, they are exhorted every
 
 294 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 
 
 week to write an essay in English prose or verse, on any 
 subject they please. By this means it becomes evident to 
 the teacher for what specific branch the pupil has a special 
 liking, and in which he is likely to succeed best ; and thus 
 the teacher is enabled to cultivate that particular depart- 
 ment for which a boy has a greater talent, and the boy may 
 freely develope it. The reward for such an exercise is a 
 holiday on the Saturday, on which day no other work is done 
 except a revisal of some portion of the week's lesson with 
 such boys as are unable to keep pace with their class-fellows. 
 
 Arithmetic, Mathematics, French, German, Writing, 
 the Saturday class of Science, and Gymnastics, are optional, 
 as in the other classes, and the pupil may take any or all of 
 them, as his parents or guardians may think proper. 
 
 In order to give our readers some idea of the work done 
 on any given day, let us take a Thursday of the last 
 Session. The first hour, from nine to ten o'clock, is de- 
 voted to geography and ethnology, the Rector partly ex- 
 amining on the previous lesson, and partly giving instruc- 
 tion on some new subject, The second hour, from ten to 
 eleven o'clock, is occupied by reading, translating, and 
 expounding some ode of Horace. The junior boys then 
 withdraw, and the seniors go through one or two chap- 
 ters of the first book of Thucydides, from eleven to twelve 
 o'clock. From twelve to one o'clock, the boys may attend 
 any of the voluntary classes ; but at one o'clock, both the 
 senior and junior boys re-assemble and read a chapter in 
 Livy, after which, from two to three o'clock, the senior 
 boys withdraw, and the juniors read four or five para- 
 graphs from Xenophon's Memorabilia of Socrates. At 
 three o'clock the business in the Rector's class is over, ex- 
 cept for those boys who attend any of those optional classes, 
 which meet between three and four o'clock. The follow- 
 ing table shows the division of time and business, such as 
 it was laid down at the beginning of last Session.
 
 IN THE RECTOR'S CLASS. 
 
 295 
 
 
 d 
 
 s 
 
 jj 
 
 * 
 
 ^ i o 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
 O - 
 
 | 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 *o # 
 
 C4-. 
 
 <=* 
 
 o. 
 
 :d 
 
 O-g 
 
 
 
 
 be 35 
 
 -' S3 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 o -5 
 
 
 HH 
 
 c S 
 
 s-l 
 
 * 
 
 11 
 
 Sl 
 
 '|;4 
 
 ,00 
 
 p 
 
 Illl 
 
 
 
 -* * 
 S> > 
 
 
 w 
 
 
 wss 
 
 
 
 
 
 jg 
 
 J 
 
 , , 
 
 
 
 "a*- 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 Qi> O 
 
 "^ f/3 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 "^ cS 
 
 s 
 
 AJS 5 " 
 
 
 t*" 
 
 ^ JH* 
 
 2 2 
 
 OJ 
 
 HH 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 >^ -^. 
 
 O 
 
 h ^r> 
 
 
 2 to O 
 
 
 1 
 
 Geograph 
 Ethuogra 
 
 Horace, 
 and Sati: 
 
 Senior G 
 Thucydides 
 
 2* 
 II 
 
 l-s aj o "g 
 
 'C combined. 
 
 
 * 
 
 i 
 
 
 !,.-. 
 
 
 a 
 
 I 
 1 
 
 Correction of 
 Greek Exercises. 
 
 |o 
 
 Senior Greek, 
 Homer's Odyssey 
 
 Extempore Tran 
 lation from En| 
 lisfe into Latin i 
 Thirwall's Greec 
 
 * 
 
 Junior Greek, 
 Grammar. 
 
 ( * ), the two Classes 
 
 
 e . 
 
 
 aj 
 
 * 
 
 O O 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 2*. 
 
 jja 
 
 .j 
 
 Q 
 
 ^-gco 
 
 ~ 
 
 1 
 
 >, 
 
 K'S, 
 
 * rt^ 
 
 13 tn 
 
 02 
 "' 
 
 ^ 'S 
 
 35 
 
 M 
 
 || 
 
 3 
 | 
 
 i 
 
 QlC 
 
 e8 ho 
 
 2 50 
 fc-e 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 !"i- : ! 
 
 I 
 
 
 sl 
 
 31 
 
 5's 
 
 ^ 
 
 isil 
 
 = 
 
 a 
 
 
 - - 
 
 
 w 
 
 3 
 
 MBS 
 
 o 
 
 Monday. 
 
 Acts of the Apos- 
 tles in Greek.* 
 
 Correction of La- 
 tin versions.* 
 
 Senior Greek, 
 Thucydides, Book 
 i.* 
 
 B 
 1 
 
 1* 
 g.o 
 
 Junior Greek, 
 Xenophon's Me- 
 morabilia of So- 
 crates. 
 
 Q 
 
 * 
 
 II 
 
 o 
 i-i 
 
 pH 
 
 r-l 
 
 <N 
 
 i 
 
 5 
 
 
 S | 
 
 A 
 
 iH 
 
 
 iH 
 

 
 296 RECTOR'S CLASS. 
 
 The Saturday, as already observed, is a half holiday ; 
 the first hour, from nine to ten o'clock, is devoted to the 
 revisal of some lesson which has been gone through in the 
 course of the week ; and the second from ten to eleven 
 o'clock, the best boys assemble to read some Greek author, 
 who is translated into, and commented on, in the Latin 
 language. 
 
 A boy who has passed through the complete curriculum 
 of the school, is not only fit to enter any of the English or 
 Scottish Universities, but is able to cope with the most 
 distinguished pupils of any of the public schools of Great 
 Britain. If it should be his vocation at once to enter upon 
 any profession or practical pursuit not requiring a univer- 
 sity education, he will find it easy to master any difficulties 
 which will at first present themselves in every new sphere 
 of action, for his mind has been trained to think and to 
 look at things in all their bearings. There can be no 
 doubt, that young men, who have received such a pre- 
 paratory training, when entering upon the practical busi- 
 ness of life, enjoy advantages over others, for which no 
 subsequent study can compensate. 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL, EDINBURGH, September 1848.
 
 REGULATIONS 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 EXTERNAL DISCIPLINE OF THE HIGH SCHOOL 
 OF EDINBURGH. 1 
 
 THE Rector and Masters of the High School feel it to be 
 their duty to remind the ingenuous Youth educated in this 
 venerable Institution, that the moral well-being of man is 
 paramount even to his intellectual advancement. You are, 
 accordingly, affectionately admonished to seek that fear of 
 the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom ; and while 
 you are not slothful in business, in the days of your youth 
 to remember your Creator, in the two great departments 
 of duty love to God, and love to man. 
 
 It is incumbent on those entrusted with your education, 
 to see that you are trained to conduct yourselves in all the 
 various relationships of life, as Christians and as gentle- 
 men. In addition to the direct bearing which the religious 
 instruction you here receive has upon this great object, the 
 branches of polite learning in which you are disciplined, 
 will, no doubt, contribute to this result. You will, besides, 
 reflect that with you rests the reputation of the School, 
 not for scholarship merely, but for habits of Christian vir- 
 tue and manly urbanity. Such considerations, it is hoped, 
 will not fail to produce among you, a high-toned morality 
 combined with a polite demeanour. But you are also 
 warned, that duty, if not voluntarily discharged, must, for 
 the common safety, be enforced by penalties. 
 
 The internal discipline of each class is confided to its 
 own individual Teacher. With regard to the external 
 1 See p. 289.
 
 298 REGULATIONS FOR 
 
 discipline, it is impossible to lay down such regulations as 
 shall embrace every case. But the following Rules com- 
 prehend the duties mainly to be enforced ; and other vio- 
 lations of the great principles of right, while you are ear- 
 nestly warned against them, will be dealt with as each case 
 may require : 
 
 I. All flagrant violations of the moral law, lying, dis- 
 honesty, swearing, obscenity, immodesty of every kind, are 
 forbidden under the severest penalties, as most displeasing 
 to God, degrading in their own nature, and hateful in the 
 eyes of men. 
 
 II. It is proper, though, it is hoped, hardly necessary, 
 to enjoin upon you cleanliness of person and dress, as 
 seemly in itself, and productive of health and comfort. 
 
 III. Punctuality and regularity of attendance are essen- 
 tial to your improvement, and will be rigidly exacted, ex- 
 cept for necessary causes. 
 
 IV. You are forbidden, while going to or from school, 
 to do any thing which is annoying to your fellow citizens, 
 which is unworthy of the education you are receiving, or 
 which may bring the discipline of the School into dis- 
 repute. 
 
 V. The Masters and Teachers are entitled to respectful 
 behaviour, not only from their own, but from all the pupils 
 of the School. 
 
 VI. You are enjoined to behave courteously to your 
 school-fellows, loving your neighbours as yourselves, in 
 honour preferring one another. The seniors are enjoined 
 to comport themselves in a kindly manner to those who 
 are younger and weaker, and any attempt at oppression 
 will be regarded as a proof of an unmanly spirit, and 
 energetically repressed. 
 
 VII. There is no desire to interfere unduly with your 
 amusements ; on the contrary, you will receive every en- 
 couragement and protection, compatible with a proper
 
 THE EXTERNAL DISCIPLINE. 299 
 
 discipline, in all manly and in all healthful sports. But 
 you are forbidden to engage in such amusements as are 
 injurious to the property or person of others, or are hurt- 
 ful or dangerous to yourselves. 
 
 VIII. Fighting, and such amusements as naturally lead 
 to irritation and violence, are forbidden. 
 
 IX. Disturbing any of the Classes in the course of your 
 games, or by shouting, staring in at the windows, or in any 
 other way, is peremptorily forbidden. 
 
 X. The splendid building provided by the munificence 
 of the City for the education of its youth, it will be your 
 pride to preserve from injury. All climbing on any part 
 of the building, all playing against it with marbles, balls, 
 or any thing else, is, on that ground, forbidden. You 
 are, also, cautioned against carrying on any of your amuse- 
 ments so near the building, as to expose you to the hazard 
 of breaking any of the windows. 
 
 XL You are required to abstain from the offensive and 
 vulgarizing practice of writing on the walls; and from 
 defacing in any way any part of the building. 
 
 XH. No bludgeons, sticks, or other instruments that 
 may be employed in games or otherwise, so as to injure 
 the building by chipping off the edges of the mason-work 
 or otherwise, are to be brought within the grounds. 
 
 Xlll. You are earnestly desired to assist in preserving 
 for the common benefit, what has been expressly provided 
 for that purpose. This you can do by your advice and 
 example. And you are forbidden, under pain of severe 
 penalties, wantonly or carelessly to waste the water, to in- 
 jure the water-cocks, or any thing else provided for the 
 public convenience. 
 
 XTV. You are reminded that, in addition to the punish- 
 ment due for any injury committed against property, your 
 liability for the damage occasioned by the transgression of 
 the Rules, will, on all occasions, be strictly enforced.
 
 300 REGULATIONS FOR 
 
 XV. You are absolutely forbidden to climb on, or run 
 along any of the walls, or climb on or over any of the 
 railings, or to leave or to come to School by any other 
 than the ordinary modes of egress and ingress ; and it is 
 necessary from the vicinity of pleasure-grounds to one 
 part of the wall, to warn you against making your way 
 into them, on any pretext whatever. You must submit 
 to occasional losses at your amusements, rather than in- 
 fringe the rights of property. 
 
 XVI. Missiles of every description, whether stones, 
 gravel, or snow-balls, are absolutely forbidden. 
 
 XVII. No gunpowder, fire-works, or fire-arms of any 
 description, are permitted to be brought within the grounds, 
 under penalty of confiscation, and such punishment as may 
 be necessary. 
 
 XVIII. In addition to the spacious play-ground pro- 
 vided by the Patrons for your recreation, you have the 
 free range of the Calton Hill, at fit opportunities : You 
 are only forbidden, for the purpose of securing your own 
 safety, to go on that precipitous part of the Hill, imme- 
 diately behind the School, situated between the two lower 
 walks. 
 
 XIX. In your enjoyment of this, and of all your privi- 
 leges, you are warned against molesting or injuring others, 
 in any way. You are especially forbidden to come into 
 hostile conduct by throwing stones, or otherwise, with 
 any other boys, or assemblages of boys, and this, notwith- 
 standing any pretext whatever. 
 
 XX. With such an ample field for recreation, you can 
 have no excuse for playing on the streets while on your 
 road to or from school, or at your play hours. This can 
 only be done at your own risk, and to the molestation of 
 others. You must not form slides on the streets or roads 
 leading to the School, as manifestly injurious to the public 
 safety.
 
 THE EXTERNAL DISCIPLINE. 301 
 
 XXI. Nothing can be more improper or hurtful to the 
 character of the School, than that, congregated on the 
 edge of a great thoroughfare, you should abuse your posi- 
 tion, to annoy or injure the public, by shouting or throw- 
 ing missiles, or by any other means. This will be pre- 
 vented by severe penalties. And, more especially, you 
 are warned against yielding to the childish excitement 
 produced by the appearance of the military, as complaints 
 have been made of violations of this necessary Rule. 
 
 XXII. The Rector, the Masters, and Teachers, along 
 with the Janitor, are authorized to mark and report in the 
 proper quarters for enforcement, all violations of these 
 Rules, to whatever class the violators may belong. 
 
 In conclusion, you are entreated to bear carefully in 
 mind the spirit in which these Regulations are framed, 
 and the great objects which they are intended to serve. 
 Our highest delight is to train your youthful minds, and 
 to accustom you to such habits of intellectual and moral 
 discipline, that you shall go forth from our Halls, fitted 
 and prepared by your acquirements and your virtues, to 
 maintain and extend the fame of your Alma Mater, to 
 prove valuable members of the commonwealth, and to 
 adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, in all things.
 
 302 CLASS-BOOKS. 
 
 COURSE OF STUDY, WITH THE CLASS-BOOKS. 
 
 This Course embraces all the usual Branches of a liberal Education for 
 
 Soys from Eight or Nine to Fifteen or Sixteen years of Age. 
 
 FIBST CLASS. 
 
 1. LATTN. High School Rudiments. First Book for Latin Reading. 
 
 Grammatical Exercises. 
 
 2. ENGLISH AND COLLATEBAL BBANCHES. Geography and History. 
 
 Studies in Poetry. Roman History, with Illustrative Geography. 
 Modern Geography. 
 
 3. RELIGIOUS INSTBUCTION. Bible. 
 
 4. ELEMENTS or SCIENCE. Introduction to the Sciences. 
 
 ABITHMETIC. Simple Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Di- 
 vision, with the Money Tables. Trotter's Arithmetic. 
 
 WRITING. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. LATIN. High School Rudiments. Phaedrus. Cornelius Nepos. 
 
 Grammatical Exercises. 
 
 2. ENGLISH AND COLLATEBAL BBANCHES. Studies in Poetry. Roman 
 
 History, with Illustrative Geography. Modern Geography. 
 
 3. RELIGIOUS INSTBUCTION. Bible. 
 
 4. ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE. Introduction to the Sciences. 
 
 ABITHMETIC. Compound Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and 
 Division, with Reduction, and the Arithmetical Tables. Trotter's 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 WBITING. 
 
 THIBD CLASS. 
 
 1. LATIN. High School Rudiments. Caesar. Ovid. Grammatical 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 2. GREEK. Greek Grammar Anabasis. 
 
 3. ENGLISH AND COLLATEBAL BBANCHES. Studies in Poetry. History 
 
 of Greece with Illustrative Geography. Ancient and Modern 
 Geography. 
 
 4. RELIGIOUS INSTBUCTION. Porteus's Evidences of the Christian Re- 
 
 ligion. Bible. 
 
 5. ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE. Matter and Motion. 
 
 ARITHMETIC. Simple and Compound Proportion, Practice, Partner- 
 ship, Loss and Gain, Interest, Discount, Equation of Payments. 
 Melrose's Arithmetic. 
 
 WBITING. 
 
 FOUBTH CLASS. 
 
 1. LATIN. High School Grammar, abridged from the large Gram- 
 mar of Zumpt, by Dr Schmitz ; with relative Exercises. Sallust 
 or Cicero. Virgil. Eclogae O vidianse. Adam's Roman Antiquities.
 
 CLASS-BOOKS. 303 
 
 2. GREEK. Greek Grammar. Anabasis, or Analecta Minora. 
 
 Greek Exercises. 
 
 3. ENGLISH AND COLLATERAL BRANCHES. Studies in Poetry. History 
 
 of Greece, with Illustrative Geography. Ancient and Modern 
 Geography. 
 
 4. RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. Porteus's Evidences of the Christian Re- 
 
 ligion. Bible. v 
 
 5. ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE. Mechanics. 
 
 ARITHMETIC. Simple and Compound Proportion, Vulgar and Decimal 
 Fractions, Extraction of the Square and Cube Roots, Mensuration 
 of Surfaces and Solids. Melrose's Arithmetic. 
 
 WRITING. 
 
 BOOK-KEEPING. 
 
 RECTOR'S CLASS. 
 
 LATIN. THE HIGHER CLASSICS. Virgil, Horace, Terence, Catullus, 
 Lucretius, Cicero, Livy, Sallust, Tacitus. High School Grammar, 
 abridged from the large Grammar of Zumpt, by Dr Schmitz. 
 
 GREEK. Grammar. Carson's Greek Exercises. The New Testa- 
 ment. Xenophon, Thucydides, Plato, Herodotus, Demosthenes, 
 Isocrates, Homer, ^Eschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, 
 Pindar, or any other of the Classical Greek Writers. 
 
 Tytler's Universal History. Greek and Roman Antiquities. Ancient 
 and Modern Geography. Compositions in Greek, Latin, and Eng- 
 lish Prose and Verse, and translations from English Classical 
 Authors into Latin and Greek. 
 
 ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE. Astronomy. 
 
 HIGHER ARITHMETIC AND ALGEBRA. 
 
 GEOMETRY. 
 
 PRACTICAL MATHEMATICS, with the use of LOGARITHMS. 
 
 BOOK-KEEPING. 
 
 FRENCH, De Fivas's Introduction. Modern Guide to French Con- 
 versation, Beautes des Ecrivains Franyais Anciens et Modernes, 
 prose et poesie. De Fivas's Grammar of French Grammars, Exer- 
 cises in Writing and Conversing. 
 
 GERMAN. Apel's Elementary Grammar, and Bach's Deutsches Lese- 
 buch, History of German Literature, and Conversation in Ger- 
 man. 
 
 FENCING, BROADSWORD, AND GYMNASTICS. 
 
 N.B. In the Classical Department the Course is fixed. Attendance 
 on the other classes is optional, and the course in them is regu- 
 lated according to the progress of the pupil.
 
 TABLE OP FEES, ETC. 
 
 TABLE OF FEES. 
 (ALL PAYABLE IN ADVANCE.) 
 
 Per Quarter. 
 
 COURSE of the CLASSICAL MASTEBS, L.I 1 
 
 RECTOR'S COURSE, 150 
 
 OPTIONAL CLASSES. 
 
 WRITING, One hour a-day, 076 
 
 Do. Two hours a-day, . . , . . . 10 6 
 
 BOOK-KEEPING, 10 6 
 
 ARITHMETIC, with or without ALGEBBA, One hour a-day, 076 
 
 Do. do. do. Two hours a-day, 10 6 
 
 GEOMETRY and ALGEBRA, One hour a-day, . . . 10 6 
 
 PRACTICAL MATHEMATICS, with the use of LOGARITHMS, . 10 6 
 
 FRENCH, One hour a-day, 10 6 
 
 GERMAN, One hour a-day, 10 6 
 
 FENCING, BROADSWORD, and GYMNASTICS, One hour a-week, 10 6 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY, one hour a-week, . . . . 026 
 
 CHEMISTRY, one hour a-week, 026 
 
 Matriculation Fee, 5s. per annum, payable at entry, for Janitor, Library, 
 Maps, Models, Sfc. 
 
 NO OTHER DUES WHATEVER. 
 
 QUABTEB DAYS : 1st October 15th December 1st March 15th May. 
 
 HOURS OF INSTRUCTION. 
 
 CLASSICAL DEPABTMENT. 
 
 JUNIOR CLASSES, before 1st April, . . . 9 11, 12 2. 
 
 after 1st April, .... 9-11, 123. 
 
 SENIOR CLASSES, - 9 12, 1 3. 
 
 OPTIONAL DEPABTMENT. 
 
 WRITING and BOOK-KEEPING, before 1st April, . 11 1, 2 4. 
 
 after 1st April, 89, 111, 34. 
 
 ARITHMETIC AND ALGEBRA, before 1st April, . 11 1, 2 3. 
 
 after 1st April, . 89, 111. 
 
 GEOMETRY, ALGEBRA, and PRACTICAL MATHEMATICS, . . 3 4. 
 
 FRENCH, 121, 34. 
 
 GERMAN, 12 1 
 
 FENCING, BBOADSWOBD, and GYMNASTICS, {^t^^y 3 ^ fl^' 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY, Saturday, . 11 12. 
 
 CHEMISTBY, (See CHAP. IV.), t . , Saturday, .1112.
 
 SPECIMENS 
 
 CLASS EXERCISES IN LATIN, GREEK, FRENCH, GERMAN, 
 AND ENGLISH, BY PUPILS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL, FROM 
 1810 TO 1848. 
 
 UNLESS where otherwise indicated, the subjoined " Spe- 
 cimens " were written by boys in the Rector's Class, 
 whose ages averaged from thirteen to sixteen. Almost all 
 these Exercises appeared in the Prospectus or " Course of 
 Study," of which a limited number is annually circulated 
 on the Examination-Day. 
 
 I. RECTORSHIP OF MR PILLANS, extending from January 
 1810 to August 1820. 
 
 The first printed specimen of the School Exercises was 
 issued in 181 1. 1 I have been unsuccessful in procuring a 
 
 1 Mr Pillans, as mentioned in a former part of this work (p. 130), pub- 
 lished in 1812 a small volume, entitled, " Ex Tentaminibus Metricis Puero- 
 rum in ScholaRegia Edinensi Provectiorum Elects, Anno MDCCCXII." 
 It contains specimens of the metrical compositions of fourteen of his 
 scholars. We subjoin their names, and the situations which they after- 
 wards filled, or do now occupy. 1. John Campbell, M.P. for Dum- 
 bartonshire. See APPENDIX, p. 136. 2. Archibald Connel, Writer to 
 the Signet. Died March 14, 1843. 3. William Cullen, Physician in 
 Edinburgh. See APP. p. 137. 4. Peter Douglas, a licentiate of the 
 Church of Scotland. 5. Thomas-Smith Goldie, minister of the parish 
 of Coldstream. 6. Hunter Gordon, Barrister in London. 7. Thomas 
 M'Crie, now D.D., Professor of Theology in the Original Secession 
 
 U
 
 306 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 copy of that paper ; and I regret this the more, as it con- 
 tained a translation into Latin verse of the concluding 
 lines of the 8th Book of the Iliad, by Robert Christison, 
 now Professor of Materia Medica in the University of Edin- 
 burgh. The present Lord Murray, one of the Judges of 
 the Court of Session in Scotland, and a pupil of the High 
 School, had forwarded a copy of the document in question 
 to the late celebrated Francis Horner. This elicited from 
 the latter, who was dux of the Rector's Class in 1792, 
 some shrewd remarks on such compositions, in a commu- 
 nication, hitherto unpublished, addressed to Mr Pillans, 
 his early class-fellow. Through the kindness of Mr Pil- 
 lans, I am enabled to enrich my pages with the valuable 
 remarks referred to, from the pen of one, whose splendid 
 talents and accomplishments would, had his life been pro- 
 longed, in all probability have secured for him the highest 
 place either in the law or government of the country. 
 
 Mr Homer's communication, dated Torquay, September 
 21, 1811, is as follows : 
 
 " I hear from all quarters of your success last year hi the con- 
 duct of the school, and of the rank to which it is now confidently 
 expected by everybody that you are to raise it among the great 
 
 Church in Scotland, minister of Davie Street Chapel, Edinburgh, and 
 translator of the Provincial Letters of Pascal, &c. 8. William Men- 
 zies, parochial minister of Keir. 9. John Newton, Merchant in Leith. 
 Died Sept. 17. 1826. 10. Ebenezer Pinkerton, Surgeon in the Royal 
 Navy, author of " The Island of Propontis, and other Poems." Died 
 July 6, 1844. 11. James Hose, Writer to the Signet. 12. Daniel-Key t 
 Sandford, Professor of Greek in the University of Glasgow, and M.P. 
 for Paisley. KINO WILLIAM IV. conferred upon him the honour of 
 Knighthood. Died Feb. 4, 1838. 13. James Watson, of the Scottish 
 Bar; sometime one of the Sheriffs-substitute for Lanarksliire. 14. 
 James Welsh, of the Scottish Bar, and Stewart-substitute of Kirkcud- 
 brightshire. Died Nov. 14, 1845.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 307 
 
 seminaries of classical education. Murray has just sent me the 
 printed copy of the Latin verses, produced at the last examina- 
 tion ; which are at once a proof of your having done much al- 
 ready, and a specimen of what you design hi your future im- 
 provements of the discipline of the High School. Considering 
 the age of the boys, as well as that it was a new experiment, 
 they are surprisingly good. Nothing of the sort was done in 
 our days ; and it is a great step to have made at once. While 
 some of your friends have been advising the English, not in a 
 very courteous manner, but already with effect, that they lose 
 some time in too exclusive a study of the craft and myste- 
 ries of longs and shorts, you are no less usefully and liberally 
 employed in transferring to our country what is good in the 
 English practice. This is just as it ought to be. It is not to be 
 doubted, that nothing but the actual practice of versification 
 will give a very high relish for the numbers and diction of an- 
 cient poetry, or an exact and ready knowledge of the force and 
 propriety of expressions in the ancient languages. You have 
 therefore supplied a material defect in the system of what is 
 called Humanity at Edinburgh, as with good reason it will de- 
 serve to be denominated again all over Europe, when another 
 revival of letters shall take place. 
 
 " Some discrimination in the choice of subjects for your young- 
 versifiers will make it an easier task for them, and a more ad- 
 vantageous exercise. I do not know what general rules they 
 may have at the great schools of this country, or whether they 
 use now by tradition the subjects that were selected long ago. 
 But it is evidently of some importance to put boys only upon 
 such topics, on which the thoughts that are to be thrown into 
 verse will occur to them naturally, and not only with ease but in 
 abundance. It is too hard a task, if he must cudgel his brains 
 for sense at the same time that he is telling his fingers for sylla- 
 bles ; nor will the purpose of the exercise be answered, unless he 
 acquire in some degree the habit of thinking for the occasion in 
 the learned language. For this reason, I should be inclined to 
 think that translation, and especially from verse, is not the most 
 advisable mode of this exercise ; there is no liberty of thought 
 left, and there are severe difficulties to overcome, quite extrinsic 
 to the proper difficulty of the task. I have also observed that
 
 308 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 general moral themes are but an unprofitable subject for the 
 composition of a young beginner, whether in prose or in verse, in 
 his own language or another ; he can only go to the few common 
 places he has learnt by rote, and then is at the end of his re- 
 flections. Boys, like men, will never write well but upon 
 things which they know thoroughly. I am aware this would 
 restrict the master very much in the choice of subjects, 
 though not so much as to the number of individual sub- 
 jects, as in the class and species of subjects. Even this 
 limitation, however, still leaves you all the varieties of nar- 
 rative with all its ornaments and appendages ; besides the great 
 familiar objects of description in natural scenery, and the sports 
 and occupations in which boys are either engaged or upon the 
 eve of engaging. You well know how theoretically I talk in all 
 this matter ; but these notions passing through my mind, I wish 
 you to consider what degree of truth there is in them. They 
 were suggested by a circumstance which I fancied I observed in 
 reading over the verses which Murray sent me, that there was 
 more freedom and ease and currency in some parts of those 
 written upon the Kalends of August, than upon the other themes. 
 You will be apt to think it a great error in me to doubt whether 
 the famous simile in Pope's Eight Hiad is a fit exercise for a boy 
 in Latin verse; for it is a favourite one, I believe, at Eton, as 
 indeed it is one of the most celebrated flowers of English poetry. 
 If it were entitled to all its reputation, that would be no reason 
 for applying it to this use; he must be an extraordinary boy, 
 who could present in a translation such a dazzling luxury of 
 words, or who, in executing his task, would refrain from attempt- 
 ing it. I ought to justify my taste for hazarding any censure 
 upon a passage which, by its harmony and splendour, is sure 
 always to please. But I cannot forgive Pope for losing that cir- 
 cumstance on which the grand character and solemnity of the 
 scene in Homer, and its sublime repose chiefly depend ; the soli- 
 tude of the shepherd who exults in the contemplation of such a 
 night. It is much to the credit of your boy's taste who gave a 
 version of this, that he placed, like Homer, a single figure in the 
 picture, instead of Pope's multitude ; it would have been a great 
 stroke of genius, had he changed Pope's ' swains' into a shep- 
 herd. It is agreeable to observe, that Pope having altered the
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 309 
 
 character of the simile by introducing this bustle and crowd of 
 peasants, adds a new circumstance of his own quite suitable to 
 the altered scene, 'and bless the useful light;' in which, for 
 that purpose, the epithet ' useful' appears to be eminently 
 happy. I can make this criticism of mine more intelligible per- 
 haps in another way : strike out the second couplet, and it seems 
 to me we obliterate almost the last trace of the great original, 
 and yet leave Pope's a more distinct and more pleasing picture 
 than as it now stands ; the effect is to bring out the last couplet 
 in a stronger relief, though the whole is no longer ' the solemn 
 scene.' If it be objected, that by ' the conscious swains,' Pope 
 may not mean to have more than one figure in each scene, but to 
 present many single figures in similar meditations, that I appre- 
 hend would give occasion to charge him with a greater fault still 
 in poetical design. After all this, I will not point out the tinsel 
 of some expressions, for they are scarcely to be seen in the general 
 richness of the diction ; though gilding and tipping with silver 
 are an awkward coincidence, and yellower verdure would need 
 the whole shield of Mr Stewart's doctrine of mixed metaphors. 
 In point of mere translation, Pope's greatest success in this simile 
 is upon the ,!/** /fci$, and his chief failure in the landscape 
 shown by the moonlight, where he has wholly lost one feature of 
 it **i no.* ; for which his ' shining vales,' though a beautiful 
 object, are not a skilful substitution, for it leaves his picture all 
 light without shade, against which Homer has provided. You 
 owe this prolix criticism to an accident ; the circulating library 
 at this little place does not afford me a copy of Pope's Iliad, 
 which I have been longing for, to compare with the original in 
 some other passages ; and, in the midst of this longing, came 
 your sheet of verses with this delicious morsel of English among 
 them." 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 
 Summa sequar fastigia rerum. VIHG. 
 
 Vos, Heliconiades, gemino seu vertice mentis 
 Castalii lucos can turn resonare docetis, 
 Seu gelidis Hsemi clivis, seu per juga Pindi
 
 310 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Festas gaudetis cithara celebrare choreas ! 
 Tuque, O Mnemosyne ! doctas, dilecta Tonanti, 
 Quae partu enixa es, novies fecunda, puellas, 
 Extremo huic blandae, precor, aspirate labori. 
 Dicite qui veterum delectavere libelli, 
 Vos meministis enim, Divas, et memorare potestis. 
 
 Tu, quern dives avis cantantem Mantua quondam 
 Audivit dubiam facientia carmina palmam, 
 Cujus solum alter dignus MARO dicere laudes ! 
 Primus Tu nostrae prasbebas gaudia menti ; 
 Dum mala dira fugae, fractaeque pericula navis, 
 Parrhasiumque canis regem, miserumque puellum, 
 Pestem et Aventinae silvas, generosaque facta 
 Clavigeri, et positis spelaea exusta caminis. 
 Turn rapis ad clypeum, Vulcania munera, Trois, 
 In quo caalarat magnae primordia Romas 
 Conjux Idalies, pugnataque in ordine bella. 
 
 Tune Apis ore avido suavissima mella Matinae 
 Legi, carpentis multo thyma grata labore. 
 Versibus O ! quantum nobis, VENUSIXE, dedisti 
 Laetitias, seu cum celebratur Lydia plectro 
 Lausque Poetarum, vafro seu carmine mordax 
 Aut in avaritiam inveheris luxumque nocivum, 
 Officiumve doces scribendi carmina recte. 
 
 Et satiris ardens nobis est lectus AQUINAS, 
 Stultitiam irridens hominum, qui numina poscunt 
 Famam, et opes, summumque locum, diuturnaque vitas 
 Tempora, et eloquium, praestanti et corpore natos 
 Stulti ! nam properant haec exoptata ruinam ! 
 
 Lectus erat NASO, Pelignas gloria terrae, 
 Vulneris auxilium praebens quod fecerat ipse. 
 Infelix ! qui non patrios celebrare Penates 
 Jam senior posset, lentam et traducere vitam ! 
 Naso vale ! vates tenerorum lusor amorum, 
 Sit tibi terra levis, tua molliter ossa quiescant !
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 311 
 
 Quanquam inter gentes jaceant a caade 1 vocatas, 
 Et procul a patria ponti lavat unda remoti ! 
 
 Et nostros oculos AFRI jucunda morata est 
 Pagina, dum narrat, mira celeberrimus arte, 
 Iratum mitemque patrem, Davumque dolosum. 
 
 Jam tenet eloquii Latialis maximus auctor, 
 Roma Patrem Patriaa merito quem libera dixit. 
 Fulmine torrentem videor per rostra videre, 
 Et quocunque velit mentem auditoris agentem. 
 Aspice ! declamat jam in te, Catilina, tuosque : 
 Jam te mirantur, divina Philippica, Patres, 
 Altera post primam : Sed, visu triste ! sequuntur 
 En ! percussores ; ingratoque ipse cliente 
 Concidit, Antoni jussu. Tamen, improbe, vivet, 
 Vivet in aeternum : citius Sol ipse negabit, 
 Immemor humani generis, sua lumina terras, 
 Quam spectandus honor TULLI nomenque peribunt. 
 
 Attigimus primis (primo sed suavia gustu) 
 Veracis TACITI cselestia mella labellis ; 
 Tempora, serviret cum calvo Roma Neroni, 
 Narrantisque duci data pocula mista veneno. 
 
 TROJANI interea SCRIPTOREM evolvere BELLI 
 Fas erat, et magni mortem lugere mariti 
 Eximiae Andromaches (Trojae sic fata ferebant !) 
 Quem circa Iliacos muros raptavit Achilles, 
 Et Patri corpus poscenti vendidit auro. 
 Te, Princeps vatum, quamvis damnare 2 Tyrannus 
 Tentavit cunctosque interstrepit Anser olores, 
 Fama tamen laudesque in secula sera manebunt, 
 Et gentes noridum natae super aathera tollent. 
 
 SOCRATIC^E chartae mihi mellea dona dederunt, 
 Pingentes Cyrum puerum, moresque severos 
 
 1 Vid. Ovid. Trist. lib. iii. Eleg. 9. 
 
 2 " Cogitavit etiam [Caligula] de Homeri carminibus abolendis." 
 SUETON. Vit. Calig. c. 24.
 
 312 SPECIMENS OP 
 
 Persidis. prasstans juvenis, proba sit mihi semper 
 Mensque pudorque tuus, tanta et reverentia justi 1 
 
 Paulatim quoniam accedit maturior aetas, 
 Et toga, pratexta posita, sumenda virilis, 
 Scenaque solicit* subeunda est publica vitas ; 
 Quanquam fata nigrans velat distantia nubes, 
 Sic tamen est animus : Quascunque pericla lacessant, 
 Qua3cunque afficiant clades, ut palma, resurgam ; 
 Obvius accingar, contraque audentior ibo. 
 Et nitar, pravos ne quis reprehendere possit 
 Mores ; aut turpem thesauri ingentis amorem, 
 Luxuriam aut pravam objiciens, escamve malorum. 
 Me nee Desidia illecebris trahat improba Siren 
 In casses, dicam nee stultus, Cras bene vivam : 
 Quern non hora volans, minus aptum crastina reddet. 
 
 1814. CAROLUS NEAVES.* 
 
 Non licuit populis parvum te, Nile, videre. LUCAN. x. 296. 
 
 NILE, pater fluvium, dives quern Memphis adorat, 
 -ZEthiopumque genus nigrum, Phariique tyranni ! 
 Fert animus clarum ccelis educere nomen 
 Laude tuum, ripasque sacras, ubi fletibus lo 
 Auxit aquas miseris, patiens sine crimine poenas, 
 Junonisque iram : necnon tua rauca fluenta, 
 Piscesque immanes avolsaque viscera montis, 
 Rapta per immensum, dicam, volventia secum, 
 Et madidas spuma, multaque adspergine cautes. 
 
 Ecce, ubi circuitu curvantem brachia Cancrum 
 Sol fugiens, repetit sicci rabida ora Leonis. 
 Non ullos sitiens JEgyptus postulat imbres : 
 Arva papyriferis spretis tegit omnia ripis 
 
 i Dux in 1814.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 313 
 
 Amnis, et agricolae pan r is, ubi nuper ararant, 
 Vectantur ratibus ; clivis et collibus aedes 
 Ponunt, et pecudes stabulant in montibus altis. 
 Ast ubi Libra tenet solem, Chelseque minaces, 
 Tune humus apparet, tune gurges rura relinquit, 
 Exigumque iterum Nilum sua ripa coercet. 
 Nee nivibus turgescit, hiems ubi protulit ora 
 Tristia, ceu Scythicas humectans Ister arenas, 
 Et Rhenus Rhodanusque celer, Tanaisque, Tyrasque ; 
 Sed frugum exoptata parens, et pomifer annus, 
 Agricolamque beant formosi messibus agri ; 
 Plenaque libantur bubus Mareotidos uvae 
 Pocula, non Chiis, non decessura Falernis. 
 
 Hie primum pecudes nocturne tempore servans 
 Pastor, tecta Jovis scandit, crelique meatus 
 Descripsit radio, et surgentia sidera dixit : 
 Signaque, quse longo frater percenseat anno, 
 Mense per haec uno didicit transire Dianam. 
 
 Quid memorem coelum ferientia culmina summo 
 Vertice Pyramidum, quas olim struxit inanes 
 Princeps, ut nomen remaneret in omnia secla. 
 Demens ! qui famam voluit, laudemque perennem 
 Turribus excelsis et non virtute mereri. 
 
 Sed, mihi praecipue Nili sacra ostia gratum 
 Dicere carminibus, nostris ubi classibus heros 
 Agmina Gallorum vicit, puppesque cremavit, 
 Atque caput domito mea patria sustulit hoste : 
 Felix, heu nimium felix, si haec dona fuissent 
 Propria ! Sed rursus victricia tempora cinctum 
 Auro navali, patriumque ad limen iturum, 
 Abstulit atra dies, et funere mersit acerbo. 
 Heu quantos matrum fletus, gemitusque virorum, 
 Tune rapidus divom ventus referebat ad aures ! 
 Non ullo se unquam generosa Britannia nato 
 Jactabit tantum, talem neque Martia quondam
 
 314 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Roma virum peperit, nee Elissae mcenia clara. 
 Haud adversa illi quisquam tulit obvius armis 
 Arma, fero seu cum gladio certaret et hasta, 
 Seu jacularetur damnosum puppibus ignem. 
 
 1817. GULIELMUS GLOVER. 1 
 
 Sideribus novere vias. LUCAN. ix. 495. 
 
 FIERI ! quam nuper brumam celebrare vocavi, 
 Telluremque pigram gelido vix cardine motam, 
 Nunc longe diversa petas, et carminis ala 
 Digneris trepidum mihi sustentare volatum, 
 Monstriferas Libyae sterilis dum scrutor arenas ; 
 Phoebus ubi radium obliquum non mittit amicus, 
 Nee vice jucunda ridentia tempora ducit: 
 Rubra sed recte jaculatus spicula dextra, 
 Perpetuis iras terram fervoribus urit. 
 
 Cesserunt cautes homini pigrseque paludes, 
 Nee reprimunt avidos Borealia frigora nisus ; 
 Sed quando tuguri volvent hie culmina fumum, 
 Humanique auras agitabunt murmura coetus ? 
 Hie hominis nunquam discet parere labori, 
 At sedet aeternum Natura potentior Arte. 
 
 Dum peragrat lassus sine tramite regna viator 
 Immotum frustra simul auribus aera captans, 
 Atque oculis ponti flaventis littora quserens, 
 Nil vidit prater coelum undique et undique arenas 
 Quas tacitis asterna Quies superincubat alis, 
 Longinquum tonitru resonat nisi forte leonis, 
 Aut trifido serpens horrendum sibilat ore, 
 Aut qua mercator, sabuli discrimina tentans, 
 Coclo noscit iter saxove Aquilonis amico, 
 Rauca camelorum vox dira silentia rumpit. 
 
 i Dux in 1817.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 315 
 
 Ad vena perculsus vix se jam vivere sentit, 
 Mortua cum circa prorsus natura videtur. 
 
 Hie tamen interdum procul sequor amabile cernit, 
 JEthere caeruleo longe sua casrula miscens, 
 Riparumque toros virides : non qualis Oasis, 
 Raro permulcens oculos spe fontis, et umbra 
 Vix flavum varians campum, sed ubique patentes 
 Elysios campos. En prsemia digna laboris ! 
 Laetitia praeceps exul ruit, advolat, instat, 
 Jamque tenet ; gelidas jam* sese immergit in undas, 
 Quum subito ex oculis vanescunt omnia lapsu, 
 Statque miser campi medio sine limite adusti. 
 
 Quod si consurgens quando Neptunus arenae 
 Jungit equos Venti, et rapidas molitur habenas, 
 Effugit ecce quies ; prasceps discordia sasvit ; 
 Ante rotas Regis gaudens exultat Eremus, 
 In chaos antiquum tanquam se funderet orbis. 
 Lie, columnato provectus turbine curru, 
 Horrisono gestit stridore, regitque procellam, 
 Dum fluctus infra torquentur gurgite vasto, 
 Desuper et coelum fulvis obtexitur umbris. 
 Tune miser, occurrit saevi qui numinis iraa ! 
 Nee fuga, nee votum, nee vis profecerit illi. 
 Forsan et infelix, membris languore solutis, 
 Sese errare putat, qua fons argenteus unda 
 Laetificat patrios campos ; aut scandere colles, 
 Quorum gaudebat juvenis super ardua niti. 
 Heu ! minime reputas tibi quam sors ingruat atra : 
 Somnus enim, mentem qui illudit imagine pulchra, 
 Est Consanguinei praenuntius ; altior instat 
 Umbra, soporque caput languens jam ferreus urget. 
 Quin properas ? venti veloces indue pennas, 
 Si tempestatem possis vitare sequacem. 
 Nequicquam ! assequitur non eluctabile fatum, 
 Atque indefletus jam mergitur exul arena.
 
 316 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Excitus, ad ssevum vertit semel sethera vultum ; 
 Et patriae dulcis moriens reminiscitur agros. 
 
 1820. JOANNES BROWN PATTERSON. 1 
 
 ET2 TDNON.2 
 apri Trova p.vpia \auiv 
 
 aXaKW SeS/ni/^eca virvco ! 
 r, w a>6vr<ov eptypf rpofi, vm>f, (pojBrjdels 
 Ov8' er' ffioifri \* els WKunp jSXffpdpoicriv ffp<ri]i>, 
 Ov8e nevos 6vfj.ov ^rjdrj p.e\ir)8fi 
 TtTTre <rvy a.K\fa>v dycnrqs Kflv 
 
 Taptpe'i fj.vui.aii>, fj\acrKovara>v irepi OIKOV ', 
 Avveiv 8' dpx6vTu>v GaXdjiovs fva>8fas dv8p>v, 
 \iyvpfjs onl K\T]TOS doi8r)S, 
 dK<ov iror dirb f3X((pdpoiiv oXcoXas ; 
 Navrov Trios' fdeXeis 6(f)da\p.ovs dfj,(pixy6f)vai, 
 'itrra) rt rpo/jifovTi, ird\ippodiot.<n 8e pei 
 HaiSos irdX\o/j,fvov XOcrat crw Krj8fa 
 Km ore 8r) dvefitov fls irovrov yiyvfrai o 
 TLdfrav opivovrav aXa aKpoKfXaivioSxrav^ 
 ~EK ftaOeuiv ~\ip,vr)S) ap,v8is 8e Tf Kvp.a K.v\i<r6(v 
 Kopdverai, Zirarov 8' apa v8ar ts ovpavbv t/cet, 
 Gore at/a^ tvepcav 8fivjj dveydperai t)Xfli 
 HoiTOTTOpa 8<a<r(is elpfjvrjv, cr^eVXte 8a.lp.ov, 
 "Ov Svofptpr/s 8ev(t 770X117 inrb XatXarros a^wy ; 
 OvSe at vv (\Kfi Tpi\\i(TT7) ts ofj.p.ar avanros ', 
 'iis apa rts ap^oio paKaprtpos aypios dvrjp ! 
 'Y^XTJV /SXaTTTet Kpa\r)i> or(<pavos Trept/caXXiyy. 
 
 1820. JOANNES B. PATTERSON. 1 
 
 ' Dux in 1820. 
 
 2 Imitated from Shakespeare, Hen. IV. P. II. Act III. Sc. 1.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 317 
 
 THE FAREWELL. 
 
 (From the original MS. in the possession of Professor Pillans.) 
 
 THE yellow harvest now extends around, 
 The loaded fruit-tree's branches sweep the ground: 
 My comrades ! ye who for six years have been 
 Sharers in sport and toil, a motley scene, 
 With sorrow I perceive the time at hand, 
 When each must go where duty may command ; 
 When I, alas ! reluctantly must part, 
 From many a loving and beloved heart. 
 First, then, my earliest, dearest friends, adieu ! 
 Perhaps I take a last, a parting view, 
 Yet in my breast shall memory fix your throne, 
 My beating heart be proud your name to own : 
 And you, ye reverend walls, farewell at last, 
 Where all my happy, boyish years have past, 
 You too I leave, perhaps to see no more. 
 Yet though betwixt us boundless oceans roar, 
 Through every wayward chance of life, my mind, 
 Grateful, will linger still with you behind, 
 Where first to liberal studies it was trained, 
 And mingled pleasure and instruction gained, 
 And drew from ancient lore those arts which grace, 
 Improve, delight, and animate our race ; 
 Embellish those whom peace and affluence bless, 
 To those whom fortune shuns, a kind solace. 
 
 And thou, who with parental care hast train'd 
 Our minds to virtue, our affections gain'd, 
 And urged us to persist in our career, 
 By sloth uncharmed, and unsubdued by fear ; 
 Who, waging war with profitless delay, 
 Hast spent for us the long, laborious day ;
 
 318 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Farewell ; but still, of all thy kindly aid, 
 
 Deep in my breast the mem'ry shall be laid ; 
 
 And though a length'ning space our bodies part 
 
 Thy name shall never quit my grateful heart. 
 
 If aught of praise I've earn'd, and ah ! how small, 
 
 To thee I am indebted for it all. 
 
 And if some happy day I reap renown, 
 
 And honour's meed my humble efforts crown, 
 
 Then shall my heart with gratitude o'erflow, 
 
 And countless blessings on thy name bestow. 
 
 1813. MARK NAPIER. 1 
 
 TRANSLATION OF JOHN BROWN PATTERSON'S LATIN 
 POEM ON THE DESERTS OF AFRICA. 
 
 (See p. 314.) 
 
 O MUSE divine ! whose aid erewhile I sought, 
 To sing of Winter, and the regions fraught 
 With horrid storms, and Tellus moving slow 
 On her cold axle, clogg'd with polar snow, 
 My feeble, but ambitious, wing sustain, 
 While soars its flight o'er Libya's arid plain ; 
 Where spring no cooling brooks, no freshening gales, 
 Where rise no verdant hills o'er pastoral vales ; 
 But flaming Phoebus " darts a downward ray, 
 " And fiercely sheds intolerable day." 
 
 Man clothes with verdure many a frozen shore, 
 And makes Spring smile where Winter frown'd before ; 
 The marshy fen he drains with patient skill, 
 Ev'n flinty rocks obey his sovereign will : 
 But when shall smiling cots o'erspread this land ? 
 When shall these deserts yield to human hand ? 
 
 1 Now sheriff of Dumfries-shire.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 319 
 
 Supremely great, here Nature sits apart, 
 Nor hears the din, nor sees the work of Art. 
 
 The traveller here, where'er he turns his eyes, 
 Sees nought but barren sands, and torrid skies ; 
 O'er which her wing dread Silence ever spreads, 
 Save when the waste the roaring lion treads ; 
 Or hissing serpents to the sun unfold 
 Their scales, that glisten with refulgent gold. 
 
 Haply afar blue waters seem to rise, 
 And blend their colouring with the azure skies ; 
 While verdant fields on every side are seen : 
 Not as the desert's gem, Oasis green, 
 (Like some blest island in the sandy main), 
 Scarce rears her head above the scorching plain ; 
 But far and wide Elysian meads extend : 
 See, traveller, see ! here all thy toils must end. 
 Onward he flies to reach the blissful glades ; 
 Swift from his sight the flattering vision fades. 
 
 But if the Neptune of this sea of sand, 
 Yoke to his winged car, with furious hand, 
 The horses of the wind ; before him haste, 
 Exulting, the dark spirits of the waste ; 
 Peace flies, and maddening Discord sweeps the plain, 
 As if old Chaos would resume his reign. 
 While he the god ! thron'd on his pillar'd car, 
 Delights to guide the elemental war ; 
 And widely round the heaving billows rise, 
 Till clouds of fiery sand exclude the skies. 
 Then wretched he, the angry God who dares ; 
 Him will avail nor force, nor flight, nor prayers. 
 And haply, too, when sunk in sweet repose 
 He tastes a short-lived respite from his woes, 
 His native mountains he in fancy sees, 
 And feels his native mountain's freshening breeze :
 
 320 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Alas, poor sleeper ! little dost thou deem, 
 
 How fate prepares to terminate thy dream ; 
 
 This sleep, that cheats thee with illusions blest, 
 
 Is the sure herald of a deeper rest. 
 
 Haste, traveller ! Sleep's twin brother, Death, is nigh. 
 
 Oh haste thee ! take the lightning's wing and fly. 
 
 In vain I warn, sunk 'neath the sandy wave, 
 
 Nor force can rescue him, nor speed can save : 
 
 Starting from dreams of bliss, he sees his doom, 
 
 Thinks of his home, and sighing, finds a tomb. 
 
 1820. JOHN-FREDERICK STODDABT. J 
 
 In addition to the preceding Exercises, the following pupils 
 also contributed to the " Course of Study," during the Rector- 
 ship of Mr Pillans : 
 
 1811 Robert Christison. See pp. 186, 306. 
 
 1812 Thomas Matheson, now M.P. for Ashburton. 
 
 1813 William Cullen, dux of the year. See List of Duxes, 
 APP. p. 137. 
 
 1815 John Edmondston, dux. 
 
 1816 Robert Menzies, dux. 
 
 1817 Andrew Bonar, afterwards banker in Edinburgh ; now 
 resident at Leamington. 
 
 Thomas Macgowan, afterwards surgeon, Manchester. 
 
 1818 George William Mylne, dux. 
 
 1819 Edmond Logan, dux. 
 
 II. RECTORSHIP OF DR CARSON, extending from August 
 
 1820 to October 1845. 
 VATIS CALEDONII HYMNUS AD SOLEM. 
 CURRU micanti vecte per aethera, 
 Pontoque cinctum qui face splendida 
 Orbem coronas, rexque coeli 
 Nobilis et genitor diei ! 
 
 i Called to the Scottish Bar in 1827 ; afterwards one of the Judges of the 
 Supreme Court in the Island of Ceylon, where he died August '2'J. l- .,'.>.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 321 
 
 Stupent virorum pectora, nescia 
 Qui fons perennis flammiferas opes 
 Det, lucido dum per polum orbe 
 Usque volas, sine fine clarus ! 
 " Damnosa te non imminuit dies," 
 Nee ruga frontem foedat amabilem ! 
 Stellas fugantur, consciaeque 
 Occuluere caput tenebris ; 
 Nox quum diei lurida cesserit 
 Portas Eoas et reseraverit 
 Pallantis, intraritque Phoebus 
 
 Purpureo nitidus capillo, 
 Coelo bicornis Cynthia proripit 
 Festinat et se condere fluctibus 
 Tartessiis : in splendidis nam 
 
 Nubibus est tua pulchra sedes. 
 Tuum sed aequat quid jubar igneum 
 Integritate ! Quisve per aera 
 Sequetur, Eurum, te qui anhelo 
 
 Ante volas, Zephyrumque cursu, 
 Procera frondes integral aesculus ; 
 JEias at ipsam sternit et Africus : 
 Dum collibus mutatur herba 
 
 Conterit alba senecta moritem. 
 Recessit aequor, liquit et aridas 
 Quandoque arenas ; perdidit auream 
 Et Luna lucem : fons at, alme ! 
 
 Flammetis est tibi semper idem. 
 Procella stridens quum furit aspera 
 Coelumque nigrans pondere congemit 
 Aquarum iniquo, quum corusca 
 
 Fulgura dissiliunt Olympo, 
 Fragore et axis terraque personal 
 Rubente dextra Jupiter arbiter 
 Dum territat mundi colonos 
 Praecipitans metuenda tela ;
 
 322 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Turn si renidet circulus aureus 
 Poll profundo, blanda serenitas, 
 Fugere nubes, luxque ridens 
 
 Emicuit reserata coelo. 
 1821. PATRICITJS C. MACDOUGALL.I 
 
 IN MATUTINUM TEMPUS. 
 
 Now morn, her rosy steps in th' eastern clime 
 Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl. MILTON. 
 
 EN ! fores Eos aperit rubentes, 
 Et venit curru roseo serena ; 
 Floraque a pennis teneris amoenos 
 Spargit odores. 
 
 Jamque nocturnae fugiunt tenebrae, 
 Nee tegunt umbras juga celsa montis ; 
 Siderum, noctis comitum, recedunt 
 Agmina clara. 
 
 Sol novus blando rutilat nitore ; 
 Sentiunt Isetse pecudes ovantque, 
 Atque fulgent! radio coruscant 
 Flumina glauca. 
 
 Sylva laetatur, resonantque montes 
 Cantibus gratis ; Philomela tantum 
 Aufugit tristis jubar, et sinistra 
 Noctua moesta. 
 
 En ! v&lans alte cito gaudet almo 
 Sole, depromens melos ore alauda, 
 Et trahens gyros strepitante scindit 
 Aera penna. 
 
 ' Dux in 1821.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 323 
 
 Jamque apes densae volitant fugaees, 
 Et vagas flores varies madentes 
 Rore decerpunt avido labore 
 Rura per uda. 
 
 Atque robustus placido cubili 
 Surgit agrestis, tacitumve somnum 
 Excutit membris. Vacat at labore 
 Urbs pigra grato. 
 
 Ah ! fruar dulcis liceat fugaci 
 Tempore, et vitam studiis honestis 
 Excolam, primo radiis benignis 
 Sole favente. 
 
 Namque caligans veniet sopora 
 Nox et aerumnas, querulusque moeror, 
 Atque vi saeva cito cara rumpent 
 
 Vincula vitae. 
 1823. GULIELMUS M. GUNN.' 
 
 EXCIDIA REGNORUM. 
 
 Jam seges est, ubi Troia fuit. Ovn>. 
 
 EHEU ! quam fallax, tenui quam vanius aura 
 
 ^theria, est quicquid vastus hie orbis habet ! 
 Illudens homini volitat Fors saeva caduco : 
 
 Heu hominum pendent stamine cuncta levi ! 
 Omnia vis validi fati discrimine nullo, 
 
 Ceu torrens praeceps scrupea saxa, rapit. 
 Inter opes hodie locuples exultat in aula 
 
 Immensa, atque inhians aurea vasa stupet ; 
 
 1 Dux in 1823.
 
 <^4 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Cras moeror, tristi vultus obnubit amictu, 
 
 Ornatas pulsat pauperiesque fores. 
 Nunc dux victor ovat, redimitus tempora lauro ; 
 
 Cras mediis telis terra cruore fluit. 
 Sic altae pereunt urbes, sic grandia regna, 
 
 Heu levia, ut tenuis fumus et umbra silens ! 
 Nunc surgunt, totas terrentia nomine gentes ; 
 
 Impete mox subito quassa, caduca ruunt. 
 Testeris, Babylon, veteresque Semiramias arces, 
 
 Qua tantum serpens felle virente tumet ! 
 En ! ubi sunt gazae vastaa ! en ubi pensilis hortus ! 
 
 Numinis offensi perdidit ira minax. 
 Jam non extremis mundi mercator ab oris 
 
 Hue currens blandas quaerit avarus opes : 
 Jam cecidere quidem, cecidere palatia multa : 
 
 Eversi lapides templa fuisse docent. 
 At quo fugisti, veneraridi gloria Judas, 
 
 Et Salomonis opus sidera celsa petens ! 
 Tu nunc informis moles, Hecatompylos ingens, 
 
 Alitis atrocis cceca latebra, jaces ! 
 .yEmula prolapsa est Romae Carthago verenda : 
 
 Regina Oceani, tu quoque, magna Tyros ! 
 Ac periit sedes Tritonia dulcis, Athenae, 
 
 Castalidum nutrix, artis et alma parens ! 
 Qua fluxit placido facundia purior amne, 
 
 Ac vati afflavit Musa venusta pio. 
 Neptuni murus prosternitur aeneus ; acres 
 
 Non vexat Graios belliger Hector equis. 
 Urbis Phcebeae saxum baud vestigia monstrat : 
 
 Carmine stat nomen, stabit et usque sacrum ! 
 In tumulo Paridis ludunt pecudesque feraeque : 
 
 Alta pro Troja ridet amoenus ager. 
 In ventos abiit praeclari fama Quirini ; 
 
 Nee jam Romulidis Martia corda micant : 
 Jampriclem leges, Romani, non datis orbi, 
 
 Per terras regio nulla veretur opes.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 325 
 
 Effulgere negant Capitoli marmora pulchra ; 
 
 Et septem colles jam loca nuda manent : 
 Omnis ager tristis visu jacet, inque ruinis 
 
 Bubo viatori vos cecidisse canit. 
 Vanuit imperium Pellaei Marte tremendi, 
 
 Unus cui victus non satis orbis erat, 
 Corsici et herois quassantis robore mundum. 
 
 Quam subito humanum labitur omne decus ! 
 Quo me, Musa, rapis ? nam regna ruentia, diras 
 
 Fortunaeque vices nemo referre potest ! 
 Tu, Pater Omnipotens, asqua regis omnia lege ; 
 
 Quae per te surgunt, regna superba cadunt. 
 
 1827. GEORGIUS-ANDERSON TAYLOR. 1 
 
 TONITRU. 
 
 SUBMISSA tandem desine carmina, 
 Lenes camoense debilis et modos ; 
 Nunc, Musa, sublimem volatum 
 
 Intrepidis meditare pennis. 
 Orbem tonitrus murmure territum, 
 Diffissa torto fulmine nubila, 
 Silvas sonantes et trementem 
 
 Verticibus celebres Olympum : 
 Ut motus ira terribilis Deus 
 Diris scelestos obruat ignibus, 
 Ut vectus in curru tonante 
 
 Fulguribus rapidis coruscet : 
 Magnas ut urbes vestiat ignibus, 
 Ut fulminanti falce metat solum, 
 Turresque de saxis caduco 
 
 Fulmine praacipitet superbas : 
 Ut pontus anceps comprimat impetum, 
 
 1 Dux in 1827.
 
 326 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Natura campos per dubios tremat, 
 Fulgetra per terras hiantes 
 
 In Stygios penetrent recessus : 
 Ut regia ales tela ferens pede 
 Vibrata curvo dividat aera, 
 Ut Musa, paulisper volatum 
 
 Siste, Deo quatiente Olympum. 
 Sensim refugit coeruleus color, 
 Nimbusque coelum luridus occupat, 
 Cum nubibus densi vapores 
 
 Sulphureo glomerantur axe. 
 Velamen atrum montibus incubat, 
 Et nube coelum continua petit, 
 Vix Phoebus obscurum tenebris 
 Flectit iter dubius per axem. 
 Vallis latebras przecipiti ruga 
 Pennata pronae turba petit pavens. 
 Non audet incertis per umbras 
 Corvus iners volitare pennis. 
 Pastor relicta tecta petit grege, 
 Messor tremiscens confugit in casam, 
 Ccelumque converso sub atrum 
 Ore pecus glomeratur arvis. 
 Deserta vastat rura silentium : 
 In monte pinus nocte latens caput 
 Vix quassat, in silva trementem 
 Vix agitat zephyrus susurrans 
 Frondem. Per umbras flamma velut ruens 
 Noctem coruscis dimovet ignibus ; 
 Imis velut venis latentem 
 
 Icta silex jaculatur ignem : 
 Klisus atris nubibus aera 
 Ignis micantem fulmineus secat ; 
 Nunc orbe per coslum minaci, 
 Nunc trifidis agitur sagittis. 
 Majore flamma dum propius ruens
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 327 
 
 Luc tan te vento volvit onus minax, 
 Dat fulmen explosum tremendum 
 
 Continua serie fragorem. 
 Montes Olympi per resonos furit 
 Murmur sonorum, nutat Athos tremens, 
 Parnassus ardescit, solutus 
 
 Pindus onus niveunx remittit. 
 Commista grando cum pluvia ruit, 
 Diffissa large nubila defluunt ; 
 
 Per grandinem flammae, per imbres 
 
 Indomito saliunt furore. 
 Stridente venti turbine corruunt 
 Coelum moventes, cum Borea Notus 
 Confligit, et terras duello 
 
 Terrifico quatiens et altum, 
 Ripas habebat qui modo rivulus, 
 Contendit amnis turbidus in mare, 
 Commota Neptuno Charybdis 
 ./Estuat et scopulos flagellat. 
 Heu, Musa, carmen suscipe lugubre ! 
 Chordas moveto, naenia, flebiles ! 
 En saevit ! en tristem coruscat 
 
 Per tenebras Libitina falcem ! 
 In monte pandit quze modo brachia 
 Concussa pinus truncus iners jacet ; 
 In valle procumbit ruina 
 
 Fulmine praecipitata turris. 
 Immitis aura mors equitat vaga 
 Invecta, preedam falce metens truce ; 
 Nee parcit aevo, nee tenellis 
 
 Implicitis gremio parentum. 
 Percussa flammis tecta potentia, 
 Ictam et coloni mcesta tenent casam 
 Lamenta, plangores per agros 
 
 Funerei resonant, per urbem. 
 Matrem tenelli, eara parens suos,
 
 328 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Deplorat uxor participem tori ; 
 Servatus abreptam puellam 
 
 Luget amans graviore fato. 
 1833. JACOBUS MiLNE. 1 
 
 SPES. 
 
 " Eternal Hope ! when yonder spheres sublime 
 PeaPd their first notes to sound the march of Time, 
 Thy joyous youth began but not to fade. 
 When all the sister planets have decay'd ; 
 When rapt in fire the realms of ether glow, 
 And heaven's last thunder shakes the world below ; 
 Thou, undismayed, shalt o'er the ruins smile, 
 And light thy torch at Nature's funeral pile !" CAMPBELL. 
 
 Laurigerum dominse ! Parnassum habitare canorum 
 Gaudentes, duplici findentem verticc coelum, 
 Adspirate mihi ; paulloque benignius ipsa 
 Nectito, Calliope ! carmen, cantusque moveto. 
 
 Die, ubi primum acies immensas, armaque visu 
 Horrida, sanguineo emisit Bellona flagello ; 
 Custodes ubi primi hominum, geniique benigni 
 Deseruere solum ; quum Pax pennata per auras 
 Libertasque poli fines petiere serenos ; 
 Afflictos Spes sola homines comitarier audet, 
 Nee linquit veteres sedes solitosque recessus. 
 
 Nuncque etiam curas omnes celeberrima divum 
 Dimittis, miserosque doces meliora fovere ; 
 Languida seu morbo quassantur membra maligno, 
 Seu mens ipsa suo cruciatur saeva dolore. 
 Nata diis, spumosa maris quum coerula vasti 
 Nocturno vexat cum turbine saevior Eurus, 
 ^Eolus ac fervens ventos immisit in undas ; 
 Nauta vagus pelagi quum tempestatibus actus 
 Cogitur incertus solitos mutare meatus ; 
 
 ' Dux in 1834.
 
 SCHOOL EXEKCISES. 329 
 
 Si turn forte animo sponsas puerique remoti 
 Occurrit species, tu praebes dulce levamen ; 
 Laetior instaurat solitos, ducente, labores, 
 Teque juvante dea, donee tectumque revisit 
 Et nunquam grata removendos mente penates. 
 Tu quoque, Nata diis, pueri cunabula matri 
 Ducentis somnum vigilanti, ut plurima secum 
 Volvit, suppeditas almum mitemque furorem : 
 Artus atque viri, vultus oculosque mariti 
 Laeta videt ; subito cari genitoris imago 
 Occupat aspectus, et forsan pulchrior illo. 
 En ! ubi nunc vultu rabido, vulsisque capillis, 
 Praecipites scandit montes rupesque puella, 
 Prospiciens late pontum, longeque requirens 
 Optatas navis nunquam remeabile velum : 
 Huic etiam Spes comis adest, haec sperat amantis 
 Felicem reditum, et solitas parat anxia crenas. 
 Quumque bonus rectusque imponit membra supremo 
 Lecto, tu reseras arces mundumque serenum : 
 Ac dum sacrorum meminit prsesagia vatum 
 Adveniet terris longe veneranda Jehovce 
 Pura Salem videt ut lasto modulamine cantus 
 Turba ministra Dei reddant, ut largior aether 
 Extendat tractus, facto clangore tubarum ; 
 Jam cceli splendere videt ridentia prata, 
 Angelicum glomerata cohors felicis Olympi 
 Exultansque polo, invitat solioque perenni. 
 
 Tuque etiam, Spes blanda, jubes renovare vigorem 
 Gentes, quas adversa tenent in compede rerum. 
 En ! ubi nunc acris glacies, tristisque pruina 
 Occupat obstrictos aetefno frigore brumae 
 Sauromatarum animos ; quos nunc certamine longo 
 Siberia attritos accepit tristis in oras ; 
 Insidet his pallor vultu, spes sola salutis 
 Jam superest, veteres accendens pectore flammas :
 
 330 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Ac viden ! ut tandem paucis labentibus annis, 
 Eveniunt clari, in mortem vitamve parati ; 
 Nee deest Spes constans, qua frigens Irtisa luget 
 Compede marmorea, qua pallens accola plorat 
 Abductumque polo solem, tenebrasque perennes. 
 Ecce ! etiam sylvis properant, ducente catervas 
 Teque dea, Grseci, saevos sternuntque tyrannos ; 
 Ac si forte favore tuo nunc consipit augur, 
 Grsecia, quae quondam famam super astra ferebat, 
 In genii poscet sacros praeclara triumphos. 
 Jam video Musas reduces spatiarier arvis 
 Atque habitare domos notas, veteresque recessus : 
 Nunc etiam, ut quondam, suavis canit auspice Musa 
 Pindarus, atque alter saevit sublimis Homerus ; 
 jEschylus, ante omnes venerandus fronte poetas, 
 Victor ad extremes cantat Salamina nepotes. 
 Quo, mea musa, volas ? Cantus inhibeto benignos. 
 
 O ! Musaa patriaa, manibus date lilia plenis, 
 Spargite sanguineasque rosas, ac moesta gementes 
 Nectite serta manu : viden' ! ut nimbosa procella 
 Intonuit ; regisque arces simul occupat igne ; 
 Cernitis ut populus mortem deplorat acerbam, 
 Atque pius tumulo lacrymas effundit honesto ? 
 Fertur et hinc Thamesis, sublimis flumine rivus, 
 Luctibus ingemuisse novis, ac, moestior undas 
 Coeruleas sistens, fluctus revocasse tumentes. 
 Deseruit miseros Spes constans ipsa Britannos ? 
 Deseruit, nulla apportans solamina rebus ? 
 En ! subito nova lux oculis effulget, opacae 
 Undique diffugiunt tenebrae ; mirabile visu ! 
 Comis adest species, coeli in regione serena 
 Spes adstat, ramumque manu ditantis olivae 
 Extendit, dictisque omnes solatur amicis. 
 " Vos," ait, " egregii nunc tristia fata gementes 
 Quae gelido primum tumulo imposuere Britannum,
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 331 
 
 Desinite ! lacrymasque oculis abstergite amaras : 
 Hie tandem rectis contraria fata rependens 
 Exsurgit princeps, regum de sanguine, clara ; 
 Pro galea dura caput ornat dulcis oliva 
 Pacifera, et manibus pro Martis cuspide arista : 
 Quum sese solio VICTORIA laeta locavit, 
 Tune visa ipsa mihi labi Pax aurea coelo : 
 Cernitis ut fulgur longe venerabile frontem 
 Occupat, et ccelum felix jam nuntiat ignis ? 
 Jamque iterum referens Saturnia regna resurgit 
 Fixa aeterna polo sublimis Stella Georgi. 
 O ! terra ante alias coelo defensa benigno, 
 Praeclaris ducibus multos servata per annos ; 
 Accipe perpetuae foecundaeque omina pacis. 
 Tu semper secura tui, quanquam arma pararint 
 Hispani, ssevi aut Batavi, Gallive feroces, 
 Nomen cuncta tuum crescens in saecla videbis ; 
 Aurea diffundet de cornu Copia gazas, 
 Fortunasque tuas semper venerabitur sevum." 
 
 1837. GULIELMUS SHAW. 
 
 HORTUS. 
 
 Rura mihi rident viridantia gramine molli, 
 
 Et frondes altas obilis arbor habens. 
 Undique purpureis onerantur fructibus agri, 
 
 Lucida cum tenero cespite terra viret. 
 Nunc fundit modules coelestes dulcis hirundo, 
 
 Ver decorat blandum floribus arva novis : 
 Et semper spirat genitabilis aura Favoni, 
 
 Tranquillus radiat nunc sine nube dies. 
 Non raucus clamor faciles mox impulit aures, 
 
 Nee lituus resonans horrida bella ciet : 
 
 1 Dux of the Greek Class in 1837.
 
 332 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Agri sed dulces vernant montesque superbi, 
 
 Arbor habet frondes, pabula mollis humus. 
 Aurse jucundse semper mittuntur ab alto, 
 
 Ac pluvia leni nunc rigat imber humum. 
 Hortus et induitur frondens jam floribus udis, 
 
 Quern sol splendescens undique luce fovet : 
 Illic nunc crescunt violae atque rosaria spirant, 
 
 Et pomus fulget floribus alta novis : 
 Atque thymus radiat felix, et lilia canent, 
 
 Ac matutino rore madescit humus. 
 Luxuriosa tumet fbecundo in palmite gemma, 
 
 Ficus florescit nunc onerata comis : 
 Pingitur et variis rubicunda coloribus Hybla, 
 
 Sanguineo pinguis myrrha cruore fluit. 
 Spissus nunc hedera ornatur pallente corymbus, 
 
 Undique sub ramo nobilis uva latet. 
 Sampsuchum extendit longe sua brachia dulce, 
 
 Flores aeternos atque amaranthus habet. 
 Jamque vagantur apes parvte per amrena vireta, 
 
 Spumescunt pressis suavia mella fa vis : 
 Et nunc fragrantem vernans rosa spirat odorem, 
 
 Pallida resplendet littora myrtus amans. 
 Foecundo mitis redolet vindemia fructu, 
 
 Cura fugit, " multo diluiturque mero." 
 Stipantur paterae vino prunisque Damasci, 
 
 Palladis arbor habetfronde virente decus. 
 Cernitur aestivus flos nunc redolentis anethi, 
 Non formica rapax semina grata capit : 
 Et cerasum ramos pendentes fertile vexat, 
 Frugibus effulget nunc lapidosa pyrus. 
 Spectatur non unquam oculis inimica coramble, 
 
 Sed nunc sanguineum grana " papaver habet." 
 Arbor matures fructus nunc educat omnis, 
 
 Subrident agri ; nunc nemus omne viret. 
 1844. PETRUS CosENS. 1 
 
 1 Dux in 1845.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 333 
 
 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY GEORGE A. TAY- 
 LOR, DUX AT THE ANNUAL EXAMINATION IN THE YEAR 
 
 1827. 
 
 [From the original, obligingly furnished by the dux's brother, Robert 
 Taylor, Esq., Advocate, Carfrae, East Lothian.] 
 
 " QUANTA, dilecte Praeceptor, quotque fuerint tua in nos 
 impensa beneficia, baud enuntiari potest verbis. Per duos 
 jam annos ego tuis sub auspiciis literarum studio dedi 
 operam ; nee ullam certe pattern vitae egi, vel lastiorem, 
 vel utiliorem. Te duce, libros Veterum multos dulcesque 
 nos recte decurrimus. Bono exemplo mentes nostras ma- 
 gis magisque firmasti ; bona doctrina benevolus atque am- 
 mo studiosissimo ditasti. Omnia ad diligentiam et indus- 
 triam incitamenta usque proponebas : omnia fructui nostro 
 aptabas, tarn ad mores quam ad studia pertinentia : con- 
 silium in re omni dabas benignum : iis omnibus, quicunque 
 re aliqua studium enitendi praestabant, indulgebas adde- 
 basque animos. Rite severus eras ; simulque tamen mitis 
 ac paternus : cura omnium nostrum erat mira : benevo- 
 lentia et amor cuncta decorabat facta. Patientiam semper 
 adhibebas placidam : nunquam, ne minima quidem ex 
 parte, summas studii vires defecere ; nos autem omnes ut 
 edoceres, quantum fieri potest, enixus es : nulla, dum hos 
 intra parietes congregati sedebamus, vana fugiebat hora ; 
 horse nullum perdebatur etiam momentum. Hie fons est, 
 unde omnes, et divites pauperesque licet scientiam large 
 nobilem, Graecas literasque Latinas, bibere ; hie locus, ubi 
 quodcunque sit bonum atque honestum dociles discere : 
 hie sane omnino puerorum ad commodum res spectant; 
 atque dum Veteres discimus, Bibliotheca gratis omnem 
 suppeditat scientiam. O ! per annos innumerabiles, domus 
 hsec Musarum insignis floreafc: tempus in omne hanc
 
 334 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 urbem illustret nobilem ; atque, cum brevi in alium melius 
 accommodatum locum doctrinae sedes transferatur, in dies 
 gloria crescat. 1 Maximas tibi, care Prasceptor gratias 
 quidem debemus, semperque debebimus. Quis est ex 
 condiscipulis omnibus meis, qui haec non sentiat, vel cui ea 
 sentienti non quaedam effusa laetitia oboriatur ! quis est cui 
 ea, nunquam obliteranda, baud alte imprimantur in pectore ; 
 qui te (praeceptor enim, ut bene monet Quinctilianus, pro 
 parente mentium a discipulis habendus est) non amet, non 
 grata memoria semper, dum vita manebit, amaturus sit ! 
 Et quo pacto nobis est haec melius assequi maxima erga 
 nos merita, tuis nisi, cum haec diu nota ac dulcis ut paterna 
 domus tandem sit relinquenda, praeceptis optimis quam 
 optime utendis, summa ope nitendo ut tua aliquo modo 
 recta legamus vestigia, summa opera, dum aetas faventque 
 omnia, literarum studio danda, et liberalium artium ; atque 
 ita in via, qua nos tarn benigne et assidue duxisti, usque 
 pergendo ? Ergo nos quidem discipulorum partes piorum 
 agamus : recordantes tua consilia, et ante oculos tuum 
 habentes egregium exemplum, usque doctrina utili, quse ad 
 virtutem nobilem atque ad felicitatem facillimum pandit 
 iter, mentes ornemus ; usque, in quacunque simus condi- 
 tione vitae, diligentiam industriamque amabilem prudentes 
 exhibeamus ! Te vero, doctorum decus virorum, cunctis 
 cum tuis imitatoribus, vivum amabunt omnes ; teque, ut 
 verba Horatii mea faciam, 
 
 aget penna, metuente solvi, 
 
 Fama superstes. 
 
 Hunc tibi, carissime Praeceptor, librum, parvulum, verum, 
 tamen, pignus amoris in te nostri sinceri et ingentis, ego 
 condiscipulique animis gratis condonamus, cujus tibi nunc 
 offerendi mihi jucundum munus est mandatum. Ut ac- 
 cipias oramus." 
 
 i The allusion here is to the contemplated removal of the school from 
 Infirmary Street, to its present site on the Calton Hill.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 335 
 
 To the preceding Address, Dr CARSON, the Rector, made 
 the following reply : 
 
 " Tibi, juvenis carissime, vobisque omnibus, qui me tan to 
 talique munere cumulastis, maximam gratiam habeo. 
 Beneficio tarn amplo ornatus, haud equidem immemor 
 vestrae benevolentiae erga me perspectatissimae unquam 
 arguar : Patiarne igitur ullam oblivionem delere memoriam 
 ingenii, diligentiae, probitatis, quibus per totum fere annum 
 me summo gaudio perfudistis ? An hodie expectationem, 
 quam concitastis, sustinere ac tueri potueritis, dijudicent 
 alii : at ego qui vobis quotidie adfui, qui impetum animi 
 ardoremque mentis quotidie perspexi, qui amorem liter- 
 arum indies crescentem intuitus sum, cogitatione praecepi 
 gloriam vestram in rebus humanioribus futuram ac pro- 
 gressus insignes. 
 
 " Nolite tamen existimare vos jam erudites evasisse: saepe 
 in mentem uniuscuj usque vestrum veniat, annos juveniles 
 studiis optimis esse maxime amicos : ahimos igitur teneros 
 sedulo imbuite bonis opinionibus, bonis moribus bonaque 
 doctrina. Nunc adamate literas ; annos crescentes orna- 
 bunt, seniles solabuntur. 
 
 Nunc 
 JEtatis breve ver, nunc primes carpite flores : 
 
 Ai-4"* /"*?> urn tini/jM, <rafi(^irati iy/.aif r'oi, 
 Oui' <W $/*) y/yeTi uxurtfti. 
 
 " Deus ipse faxit, ut spes qua de vobis omnibus teneor, et 
 vota quae feci, sint fixa et in perpetuum rata." 1 
 
 HORAT. ODE III. 13. 
 
 O fons Bandusiae, &c. 
 "YoXw op.oui 
 
 ' To Dr Carson, the learned Ex-rector, I am indebted for the MS. of 
 the above Address.
 
 336 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 rp, avpiov p.ei> 
 "Eptfpos Bodficrfrai <rot* 
 "EpKpos p.ev, ol /ieVwTrw 
 Ta Kepara fiXavrdvovra 
 UpoXtyet r' epwra avrov 
 TLo\fp.ovs r ' o\<as 
 Kpvepas yovos 
 MoXvv dyeXijs ac 
 2e^6j/ ouSe Sdpiov fj.fi/ 
 Xpoj/os aTrrerat (p\eyovros' 
 Kpvos 8t 
 s Tf ravpois 
 y T o\r/ jropifcis. 
 2w re yvtbpifios yfvrf<rr) 
 "Or tyu> p.ev fj< 
 "Odfv vSar rjx* OVTa 
 
 1822. DAVID-JOHNSTON MACBRAIR. Z 
 
 A6HNAI. 
 
 TroXts rjv, 'AiyvTrnoi ei^ 
 
 TO KaXdf *cXeti^s T^S EXXafioy 
 nXovcrioj/ ^i/ cdvos, KOI yovv TroXe/xw a 
 2i)i< 8e ^fots rjKp.d^f TroXty, TO &' fTruwfJi 
 IlaXXdy TroXX" dyaTrwcr', ifpo>v farr/Ktv ' 
 Aat/xcoi/ ^ TroXtdf. Te^i/wv ^r> fvdd8e 
 Tails S'fV opotj dyavr) p.tv dnacriv f'^dXXe 
 *E,v6a r) ovpav60v Kariovcra, Tr(purTfpofi8r)s 
 <bavTa<rla Moixrais fTredeiKirv Xa/iTrpa /xeV <t8^. 
 'AXX' oioiy fj.(Tpots iKav&s avrwv rd p.fv d0\a 
 Tas b'avT&v viKas ', iru>s irdvra (TTpaTfiifjiaTa 6r)<ra> ', 
 
 Solicitor before the Supreme Courts, Edinburgh, since 1833.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 337 
 
 'lort'o Ttav re vfo>v \VKa>vra rd Kvp.ar aireipa ', 
 \uipe p.fv d(pdapTr], TTOOT;? rrjs EXXado? efXap, 
 "Q Mapadatv, Kal vvv TreS" f\evd(pia Trepirj^ei 
 MiXriddov 8 ovop. ( dvcp.>v eVaKouerat atee. 
 Mrj8e KOI, & 2aXa/Li(V, fv (fj-ois, dp.(pippvTos y Vfivois 
 A.fKp6t)<TT) afparoS) crot tTraivoi S'ai/Tf p.fvovcri 
 Mfxpts av alyiaXols Kax\dr) KvpaTos dyr/ 
 'Ei T* aval; <pa>K.ai rdis xoipdviv j;Xtowjn-at. 
 
 1843. JOANNES FOWLEE. J 
 
 ON THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS. 
 
 Glory of Greece, when Greece was young, 
 And towered her prowess on each height ; 
 
 Nurse of the brave, with trophies hung, 
 To charm the youth's enraptured sight. 
 
 Now on thy airy column'd side 
 
 Play the soft tints of parting day, 
 Though not in all thy sculptured pride, 
 
 Yet faintly streaked by wan decay. 
 
 Eternal as the rock below, 
 
 To heaven thou heav'st thy dauntless head ; 
 Inshrined in thee the immortal glow 
 
 That warmed thy great and mighty dead. 
 
 Long hush'd in death the minstrel's song 
 
 That hymn'd their triumphs through thy halls ; 
 
 Yet though their praises were unsung, 
 They live and bloom along thy walls. 
 
 1 Dux of the Greek Class in 1843. The original of the above Greek 
 Exercise is in the possession of Dr Carson. 
 
 T
 
 338 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Around thy feet in shatter'd piles 
 
 The wrecks of many ages lie ; 
 On million's dust the wild-flower smiles 
 
 That fix'd on thee the wondering eye. 
 
 Here rest the breasts that gladly beat, 
 When the faint soldier's dying voice 
 
 Was echo'd through each crowded street ; 
 Rejoice ! for victors we rejoice ! 
 
 Those mouldering tombs that round thee rise, 
 Tell where the sage or warrior sleeps ; 
 
 To these young fancy turns her eyes, 
 And o'er the past in silence weeps. 
 
 Still warmer tears bedew the stone 
 That rises fresh in Theseus' cell ; 
 
 Where worth and learning sleep alone, 
 
 That fell when youthful Tweddel fell. 
 1822. WILLIAM-UKQUHART 
 
 ODE TO SPRING. 
 
 COME, ever- welcome, blooming Spring, 
 And with thee all thy blessings bring, 
 
 To cheer the drooping year; 
 Drive blust'ring Winter far away, 
 And show again thy genial ray, 
 
 To soothe the rigid air. 
 
 Command the madding winds to cease, 
 And calmly breathe thy tender peace, 
 To hush the angry storm ; 
 
 i Dux in 1822.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 339 
 
 With infant verdure deck the ground, 
 And shed thy copious showers around, 
 The swelling bud to form. 
 
 Let fanning Zephyrs play around, 
 
 And through the whispering forest sound, 
 
 In concert with the stream 
 That winds along its murm'ring wave, 
 And wets the flowers with gentle lave, 
 
 Around its edge that beam. 
 
 i 
 
 Once more bring back the warbling race ; 
 Again let them thy entrance grace, 
 
 With many a festal lay : 
 Each blushing flower shall hail again, 
 Delightful Spring, thy brilliant reign, 
 
 Wide opening to thy ray. 
 
 And while we wander down the dale, 
 Where softly sighs the tepid gale, 
 
 We'll pluck the blooming flower ; 
 And weaving garlands smelling sweet, 
 Thee Mistress of the year we'll greet, 
 
 And own thy sovereign power. 
 1823. JOHN M'CitiE. 1 
 
 FAREWELL. 
 
 LIVES there a mortal with so stern a heart, 
 Who, in the moment he is doom'd to part 
 With a belov'd a grey-hair'd Parent's hand, 
 And follow Fortune to some distant land, 
 
 1 In 1836 he was appointed Rector of the Normal Institution, Glas- 
 gow; and he died October 4, 1837. See Lite of Dr M'Crie, pp. 401-3.
 
 340 SPECIMENS OP 
 
 While the sad accents of the faint Farewell 
 Thrill through each bosom like a funeral knell, 
 Or awful as the sound when falling earth 
 Strikes the low bier of her who gave him birth, 
 Can, while imagination's feverish workings roll 
 A flood of horrors on his fainting soul, 
 Restrain, amidst that rush of filial fears, 
 His heart from anguish, and his eyes from tears ? 
 Or is there any here, whose young eyes beam 
 With hope and rapture on life's glittering stream ; 
 To whom, with magic touch, remembrance rears 
 Each tender object of his infant years, 
 In tints as bright as Fancy e'er employs 
 To paint our coming our untasted joys ; 
 Who now prepare the world's wide stage to tread, 
 As future rivals of the illustrious dead ; 
 Whom Fame and Honour beckon to those fields 
 Which proudest harvests to the victor yields ; 
 Who do not wish, when glory's course is run, 
 The shouting ended, and the olive won, 
 To seek some scene, which those with whom they strayed 
 Have filled with loveliness that cannot fade : 
 Groves which have often echoed with their games ; 
 And trees inscribed with loved companions' names ; 
 To which, even now, their heaving bosoms burn, 
 With ardent wishes, that they may return ? 
 
 There cannot be ; Even infants by their cries 
 
 Proclaim their sufferings when a parent dies ; 
 And vulgar spirits never stood unmoved 
 At separation from the friends they loved : 
 Such griefs of human nature form a part, 
 A holy cement binding heart to heart ; 
 All can respect them, each their force admits, 
 Whether with the Booby or the Dux he sits :
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 341 
 
 Though some may think him hypocrite or fool, 
 Who speaks of sorrow when he leaves the school. 
 Yet there are many here who have impressed, 
 In glowing characters within their breast, 
 Feelings which bid them seize this parting hour 
 
 As best befitting to express their power. 
 
 To them their country an arena yields 
 In splendour equal to the Elean fields, 
 When Grecian States their chivalry arrayed, 
 And staked their honour on some champion's head. 
 What land, indeed, in all the arts of peace, 
 Transcends thy myrtle-covered shores, O Greece ! 
 What people ever drove Bellona's car 
 Steadier than thine amidst the storms of war ; 
 And where are glory's laurels seen to wave, 
 Over the wise, the virtuous, and the brave, 
 Bestowed by that correct, impartial hand, 
 Which once was thine fair Freedom's dearest land ? 
 None could be named, did not thy daughter live ; 
 Who, to those beauties thou alone couldst give, 
 Adds all those sterner virtues, which become 
 Thy daughter equally, immortal Rome. 
 Yes yes, Britannia, you have equal claim 
 To a bright portion on the roll of Fame ; 
 The latest times shall tell 'twas you that bore 
 Peace, Arts, Religion, to earth's farthest shore ; 
 
 Yes, future Minstrels shall with rapture sing, 
 
 How Earth, astonished, heard your gauntlet ring, 
 When your dread lion, roused by war's alarms, 
 Dared to the contest the whole world in arms ; 
 How some, your warriors and your statesmen led, 
 
 Who hailed life's morning from a lowly shed. 
 
 What feelings should a generous youth possess, 
 Who sees before him such a scene as this ?
 
 342 SPECIMENS OP 
 
 Can he forget that those whose mighty deeds, 
 
 Like some bright pole-star, each adventurer leads, 
 
 Who, in the lists of glory, makes a claim 
 
 To the best honours, or a deathless name ? 
 
 Can any here forget what Grecians gave, 
 
 To those who made them good, and wise, and brave ; 
 
 How to their Fanes the hecatomb was led, 
 
 How hymns ascended, while the victims bled ? 
 
 Those times are past : yet, should the grave unclasp, 
 
 From its appalling, adamantine grasp, 
 
 One of those heroes who, like meteors shone, 
 
 When Persia bit the dust at Marathon ; 
 
 And were the mighty chieftain to demand, 
 
 From you, the offspring of this far-famed land, 
 
 What are the honours Scotland's sons bestow 
 
 On those from whom their fame and greatness flow ; 
 
 Were he to ask, how Britons him reward, 
 
 Or how, like Greeks, they testify regard 
 
 For him, who ablest wields the power divine 
 
 Of leading votaries to Minerva's shrine ; 
 
 For him, whose tender and impartial zeal, 
 
 Each tongue acknowledges all bosoms feel : 
 
 Would We not say " Our country cannot boast 
 
 " Of marble temples studded round her coast, 
 " Yet she has offerings which by far surpass 
 " The Parian columns, the Corinthian brass ; 
 " For though we leave a worthy Master's care, 
 " Still in his interests all his scholars share ; 
 " To him their kindest thoughts are known to bend ; 
 " For him, and his, their fervent prayers ascend, 
 " That heaven its blessings on his paths may shed, 
 " And wreaths of honour twine around his head?" 
 
 Nor shall those bosoms which delighted thrill, 
 And hearts, which love and admiration fill,
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 348 
 
 When Scott's and Byron's pens sublimely tell 
 How Patriots triumphed, and how Warriors fell, 
 Remain unmoved, when they shall hear that Fame 
 Has stamped her tablets with a school-mate's name : 
 Yes he shall live unloved, and die unknown, 
 Who will not hold their praise as part his own, 
 When Gunn, 1 and Plaine, 2 who here have rivals been, 
 Shall shine, as leaders, in some mightier scene ; 
 When myrtle blossoms, which near Athens grow, 
 Shall mix with olive round our Murray's 3 brow ; 
 Or when the much-loved Gowan* shall redeem 
 The pledge he tendered at life's opening stream, 
 What time we saw him, with unfeigned delight, 
 Clasped to the bosom of kind-hearted Knight. 5 
 And if the martial trumpet even now calls, 
 Some dear companion from these peaceful walls, 
 To where the youthful soldier shall be laid 
 By the cruel sisters in a gory bed, 
 Let but the laurel with the cypress wave 
 Over our gallant friend's untimely grave, 
 Then will our Home 6 take up his Border lyre, 
 So famed for strength, for melody, and fire ; 
 
 1 W. M. Gunn, the Dux of the Latin Class this year ; now one of the 
 Masters of the High School. 
 
 1 John-James Plaine, the Dux at three Examinations of Mr Irvine's 
 Class ; and third Dux of the Rector's Class. Clerk in the Edinburgh 
 Life Assurance Company's Office, 1825. This talented young man died 
 at Grove End, Lasswade, June 28, 1838, in his 32d year. 
 
 s John Murray, the Dux of the highest Greek Class ; and second 
 Dux of the Latin Class. 
 
 4 William Gowan, u of whom all his Class-fellows have the very highest 
 expectations." Dux in 1824. 
 
 5 Mr George Knight, who was many years a highly respected Teacher 
 in George Street, Edinburgh, and at whose school the writer of these 
 lines first became the school-fellow of William Gowan. 
 
 6 Alexander-Kinloch Home, " son of Professor Home." He died 
 February 25, 1827, aged 18 years.
 
 344 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Then will he wake such numbers as impart 
 A healing virtue to the parent's heart ; 
 And place the son amongst the great and good, 
 Beyond the violence of oblivion's flood. 
 
 But should foul Envy, with her poisonous breath, 
 Threaten some virtuous youth with worse than death ; 
 Though Slander's shafts fall round him like a shower, 
 And bad men on him their reproaches pour, 
 Yet shall the ill-used man superior soar 
 To all the tempests that around him roar ; 
 If in this world's concerns he bears a part, 
 Our ablest Poet, and our noblest heart, 
 His buckler, like brave Dunois', 1 shall extend 
 Over the safety of his injured friend ; 
 And should the clouds of death, which round him roll, 
 Bear off to happier scenes the sufferer's soul, 
 In his last struggle he shall raise his head 
 To ask M'Crie 2 to vindicate the dead ; 
 Then shall the proudest of our land admire, 
 A son, the rival of his virtuous sire, 
 In making rosy wreaths, and laurels bloom, 
 Around the Martyr's grave, and Patriot's tomb. 
 
 My panting Muse would skim along those skies, 
 Beneath whose cloud-veiled face the future lies ; 
 And, ere thy footsteps bid these scenes adieu, 
 Would tell, my Greig, 3 what honours wait on you : 
 In thy bright temple Fame ! let her bend 
 Until she notes the achievements of my friend. 
 
 i " An illustration might have been drawn from Virgil or Homer ; but 
 the writer thinks he has obtained one not less apt, and, he hopes, equally 
 agreeable, from ' Quentin Durward,' the last, and, perhaps, the ablest 
 of the Scottish Classics." 
 
 2 See p. 339. 
 
 3 John' Greig, "son of the Minister of Dalmeny." He afterwards 
 settled as a Surgeon at Queensferry, where he died May 5, 1836.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 345 
 
 It must not be ; her feeble pinions fail, 
 And now around me falls that thick dark veil, 
 Which, at the bottom, rests on man's abode, 
 But stretches upwards to the throne of God : 
 Still, still I hear, a loud, and cheering noise ; 
 The hearts of hundreds uttering with one voice, 
 " That though these rooms like bubbles soon must burst, 
 And, like their founders, crumble into dust, 
 Yet underneath these roofs have friendships risen, 
 To bless on earth, to gladden souls in Heaven ; 
 That those attachments, which our bosoms swell, 
 Are sealed, not broken, by this day's FAREWELL." 
 1823. DAVID SLOAN.' 
 
 CALEDONIA. 
 
 HA IT. Caledonia ! dear though rugged clime ! 
 Heaven speed thy cause, while rolls the course of time- 
 Be mine the task to sing thy deathless praise, 
 A theme the dearest to my humble lays ! 
 Land of the fearless ! whose proud banners wave 
 Defiance stern o'er each invader's grave : 
 Land of the faithful sons of free-born sires ! 
 Whom quenchless love of liberty inspires : 
 Land of the thistle ! land ! whose echoes wake 
 Round stream, and heathy hill, and glassy lake : 
 Land of the mist blue mountain, towering high, 
 Whose snow-clad summit spikes the summer sky : 
 Land of dark woods, lone glens, and fertile vales, 
 Of circling seas, oft swept by swelling sails ! 
 
 1 Now a Surgeon at Maitland, New South Wales.
 
 346 SPECIMENS OP 
 
 Land of the lashing surge ! Beloved isle 
 Where ruddy health, and generous plenty, smile ! 
 What realm, O Scotia ! may with thee compare. 
 Thy sons are graceful and thy daughters fair : 
 Their's is a home beneath the stormy north, 
 But shrined and sacred in its native worth : 
 Fair Science there, and Learning deign to dwell, 
 And grace the hamlets of each lonely dell : 
 They teach the rights of freemen, and proclaim 
 The simple faith which gives the Christian name. 
 Hence, Scotland ! hence thy glory ! hence thy power 
 To crush despotic sway in peril's hour. 
 Oh ! may thy children cherish knowledge still, 
 And guard the sacred fountain whence distil 
 Heaven's choicest blessings o'er their favoured land. 
 To know their rights, and knowing to command, 
 Let them but feel, " that knowledge still is power" 
 And Scotland still, tho' dark oppression lower, 
 High o'er the raging main shall hold her seat, ' 
 And iron despots quail beneath her feet. 
 Her sons still scorn to wait a tyrant's nod, 
 Crouch at his feet and servile kiss the rod. 
 The banner of their freedom, and their faith, 
 Wave proudly still, e'en o'er the field of death, 
 Fan into ecstasy their patriot fire, 
 Or cool their fevered cheek ere they expire ! 
 * * * * 
 
 Here sweetest Poesy, in days of yore, 
 Unrolled her heavenly gift of mystic lore. 
 Twas here she smiled on Fingal's gifted son, 
 The warrior-Bard ! whose laurels bright were won 
 On tented field, and in the festive hall, 
 When met the mountain-chiefs at kingly call 
 Mused on the glorious "days of other years" 
 The chieftain's toils the tender maiden's tears
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 347 
 
 And bade the minstrel sing the deeds they dared, 
 
 Those feats of arms the Minstrel's self had shared. 
 
 'Twas here too, round the streams of Hawthornden, 
 
 Flowed the sweet strains from Drummond's lyric pen ; 
 
 Here Ramsay pictured in the garb of truth 
 
 The simple lives of Scotia's pastoral youth ; 
 
 Here Thomson, thoughtful, marked the year unfold, 
 
 And sung sublime, the Seasons as they rolled ; 
 
 Here, pondering History's and Nature's page, 
 
 Home sung the feudal deeds of distant age ; 
 
 Here Burns first woke his slumbering muse to fire, 
 
 High soared to heaven and stole a seraph's lyre. 
 
 Here pious Graham revered heaven's high command, 
 
 And sung the Sabbaths of his native land ; 
 
 Thy scenes, O Scotia ! mighty Byron loved ; 
 
 Their grandeur fired his soul where'er he roved : 
 
 In youth he loved them, and thro' many a clime 
 
 They roused the ardour of his soul sublime. 
 
 These are the sons of song ! the mighty dead ! 
 
 Whose spirits from this land of life are fled ; 
 
 Scotia dearly loves each honoured name, 
 
 And genius gives their works to deathless fame ; 
 
 They live in kindred hearts, and every scene 
 
 They sweetly sung, shall keep their memories green. 
 
 Spirit of Poesy ! who in bygone days, 
 
 Didst oft inspire the bold and breathing lays 
 
 Of Scotland's Bards ! thy influence is not gone. 
 
 Would I could tread abroad with poet's eye, 
 
 And sing thy scenes with poet's ecstasy ; 
 
 Would I could sun me in the living light 
 
 Which sheds on raptured bard its influence bright, 
 
 Which beams on Scotia's SCOTT, auspicious name I 
 
 Strung on the bead-roll of undying fame. 
 
 'Tis well, when wandering life's dull waste along, 
 
 To point the view to many a child of song.
 
 348 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 They loved the rugged clime that gave them birth, 
 And sung its glories to the " listening earth." 
 Immortal Bards ! aught could my verse avail, 
 I'd sing your well-earned worth in every dale : 
 Repeat your strains to every crystal stream, 
 Till every rock re-echoed back the theme^ 
 But ah ! my song would ill befit your lays, 
 And yield but poor encomium to your praise. 
 
 1830. JOHN-INNES-CRAWFORD LOCKHART.1 
 
 THE TEMPEST. 
 
 The sun shone bright on the waves so light, 
 
 And the fishes round did play, 
 As in awful rest on ocean's breast 
 
 Our gallant vessel lay. 
 
 Not the slightest breeze did curl the seas, 
 
 Nor wav'd the streamer blue, 
 But a scorching sun and the hour of noon 
 
 Oppress'd the hapless crew. 
 
 The sailor sighs as he views the skies, 
 
 And the ocean's tranquil rest, 
 And he shakes his head, for a presage dread 
 
 Torments his anxious breast. 
 
 The sky grows dark o'er the wand'ring bark, 
 And the sails are drench'd in rain ; 
 
 While with awful sweep, o'er the trackless deep, 
 Bursts the wild hurricane. 
 
 1 Now resident in Montreal.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 349 
 
 Loud thunders peal, with tremendous swell, 
 
 The mountain billows rise, 
 And in dread career, through the welkin drear, 
 
 The livid lightning flies. 
 
 Now, high the masts on a wave's white crest, 
 
 To the sky's black tapestry tower ; 
 Now headlong hurl'd to the nether world, 
 
 They sink 'mid the main's wild roar. 
 
 The bravest quail 'neath the awful gale, 
 
 The spreading sails are riv'n, 
 And hope departs from the crew's sad hearts, 
 
 As they lift their eyes to heav'n. 
 
 Bright dawns the day, but where are they ? 
 
 Nought on the main is seen, 
 Save a shatter'd wreck on the billows black, 
 
 To tell that they once have been. 
 1839. WILLIAM INGLIS.' 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 CLIME of the brave, how fallen now ! 
 Where are thy sons who once were free ? 
 No laurel decks the Victor's brow 
 In the dark land of slavery ; 
 For ruin swep't their land of light, 
 With'ring their hearts as with a blight. 
 
 No Roman eagle from on high 
 Sprung with destruction on its breath ; 
 
 i Student in Divinity, United Presbyterian Church.
 
 350 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 No foe destroyed thy liberty, 
 No foe gave up thy sons to death, 
 Till their own hand had struck the blow, 
 That laid their climes for ever low. 
 
 O Greece ! where are thy honoured brave, 
 Who for their homes and country bled ! 
 Alas ! there was no hand to save, 
 No voice to warn them from the dead ; 
 No one Eke these to set them free, 
 The heroes of Thermopylae. 
 
 It were a noble task to tell 
 Of these few Spartans' glorious fame ; 
 Well may the Grecian bosom swell 
 At mention of their honour'd name ; 
 But nothing save the long rank grass 
 Now marks where sleeps Leonidas. 
 
 And nought to mark where Homer strung, 
 And swiftly swept the quiv'ring lyre ; 
 Where Sappho mournful numbers sung, 
 Inspired with all the heavenly fire ; 
 But lo ! the Muse on bended knees 
 There weeps above Simonides. 
 
 1841. AXEXANDER-MONCRIEFF GORDON. 1 
 
 EVENING. 
 
 FAIR hour of Poesy's and Passion's dreams, 
 Of sweetest breezes and of purest beams, 
 Rich clouds, and twinkling stars, and balmy dews, 
 Come, loveliest theme, and be thyself my Muse ; 
 
 1 Accountant, Royal Bank of Scotland, Leith.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 351 
 
 Breathe o'er the lay, which fondly tells thy praise, 
 The splendour of thine own voluptuous rays, 
 The colours of thy bright and varying skies, 
 The music of thine airy melodies. 
 For thou art lovely, Evening ! I have felt 
 My soul beneath thy gentle influence melt, 
 Which lends to ev'ry scene and ev'ry tone 
 A mild and pensive softness all its own. 
 The shadows lengthened by the sloping light, 
 The gleam which lingers on the purple height, 
 The gale that whispers through the cool arcade, 
 Formed by the dark green chestnut's massy shade, 
 The lake which burns one sheet of yellow fire, 
 The knell resounding from the distant spire, 
 The echoes which the circling hills prolong, 
 The raptures of the wild bird's piercing song, 
 Ev'n the rich music of the mellow horn, 
 Which swells so loudly on the breeze of morn, 
 The blithest sounds, the gayest forms, receive 
 A tinge of sadness from the spells of Eve. 
 The spirit of sweet melancholy floats 
 O'er all her scenes, and thrills in all her notes, 
 Breathes in the fragrant languor of her sigh, 
 Weeps in her dews, and blushes in her sky. 
 How sweet it is, at that enchanting hour, 
 When earth is fresh with April's sunny shower, 
 To wander through some green and quiet lane, 
 O'erhung with briers, and wild-flowers moist with rain, 
 And view the Sun, descending to his rest, 
 Lead his bright triumph down the gorgeous West. 
 Amidst the glories of that radiant sky, 
 Dun wreaths of cloud, with crimson dappled, lie 
 Like the dark curls, with roses crown'd, which play 
 Around the brow of some fair queen of May ;
 
 352 SPECIMENS OP 
 
 And dusky streaks, on which the sunbeams throw 
 A lurid mellowness, a sullen glow, 
 Whose blotted masses seem, to fancy's sight, 
 Blue hilly isles amidst a sea of light, 
 Rugged with many a crag's fantastic shape, 
 And swelling ridge, and far-projecting cape. 
 Dyed by the sinking rays, the heavens assume 
 A brilliant tint of deep and rosy bloom, 
 The lovely hectic of declining day 
 Height'ning its charms, and marking its decay : 
 From hue to hue the varying splendours fade, 
 And melt into a pale and saflron shade. 
 
 But see the broad and yellow moon emerge 
 Upon the dim horizon's eastern verge, 
 In cold and ghastly beauty. Tree and height, 
 Eiver and plain, are starting into light. 
 How beautiful its gleams of silver fall 
 On the bright lattice, and the flower-clad wall 
 Of snowy cottage, or the Gothic tower 
 Of some grey church which tufted yews embower ! 
 How fair is yon meek wand'rer, as she strays 
 Through filmy shades which scarce conceal her blaze, 
 Or measures with her cold and pensive eye, 
 From some clear island of cerulean sky, 
 The billowy ocean of pale clouds around, 
 O'er which her lone and nightly course is bound ! 
 
 Thine, gentle Evening, is each power that binds 
 In mystic harmony united minds ; 
 And lulls to soft repose in verdant bowers, 
 Amidst a glowing paradise of flowers 
 Of sparkling streams, and spicy gales of bliss, 
 The wayworn pilgrims of a world like this. 
 Thine is the tenderness whose blameless joys 
 No guilt pollutes, and no remorse alloys ;
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 353 
 
 The rest which soothes the tortur'd spirit's strife, 
 
 The fairy graces of domestic life. 
 
 Thine is the prayer lisp'd forth, with downcast eye 
 
 And lifted hands, by kneeling infancy, 
 
 And thoughts of solemn awe and grateful love 
 
 Which link mortality to realms above. 
 
 Come ever thus, sweet Eve, and let thy smile 
 The sorrows and the toils of day beguile ; 
 And as thy starlight dew and cooling breeze 
 Revive the swarthy turf and drooping trees, 
 Paint ev'ry sunburnt flow'r with richer bloom, 
 And bathe the plains in moisture and perfume. 
 Thus let thy moral charms, with influence kind, 
 Repair the wither'd verdure of the mind ; 
 And thus to fresher life and brighter hue 
 Each languid hope and faded joy renew. 
 
 1845. FRANCIS RICHARDSON.' 
 
 III. RECTORSHIP OF DR SCHMITZ, commencing January 
 1846. 
 
 TIB. ET C. SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS, 
 
 NEQUICQUAM Juno ventos immisit in aequor 
 Tyrrhenum, Italiaeque per urbes misit Erinnem ; 
 Nil classis combusta, gravis nil profuit ira : 
 Surgit Roma potens, victo dominabitur orbi. 
 Altera Troja novas, antiqua clarior urbe, 
 Leges Argivis dixit victoribus olim ; 
 Hannibalisque immota tonantis ab Alpibus ignes 
 Sustinuit, belli certamine fortior omni. 
 Sed quibus invictis cessit regina Deorum, 
 Terribilesque manu Graeci divinaque Poeni 
 
 1 Studeiit, Caius College, Univ. of Cambridge.
 
 354 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Ars, in Romanes Romana trahunt miserandum 
 Delicta imperil casura diramque ruinam. 
 Namque aurum sitientis opumque cupidine ductse 
 Curias avarities populum miserum urguet ; egestas 
 Frangit dura animos, hostili fortior cnse. 
 Sed duo cum juvenes, clari virtutibus orbem 
 Per totum, aequales ausi componere leges, 
 Justitiam renovare volunt, quid, die mihi, causae est, 
 Cur non in melius possint res vertere, sic ut 
 Res Romana novis oriatur viribus aucta? 
 Steva manus procerum effrenata ira rapiuntur, 
 Volventesque dolos et tristia funera mente, 
 Fratribus immeritis imponunt perniciem, ex qua 
 Ipsi nascitur et Romae immedicabile vulnus. 
 Urbs etenim cecidit, simul ac Gracchi ceciderunt ; 
 Antique periit libertas gloria Romae ; 
 Nomen Romanum vox atque levi simile umbras est. 
 At vestrae, fratres ! florebunt cuncta per aeva 
 Laurus non hominum caesorum sanguine tinctae ; 
 Vobis laus dignis nunquam peritura manebit. 
 
 1847. C. R. SCOTT. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE'S JULIUS CAESAR, ACT III., SCENE 3. 
 
 co 'v8pes <pi\.oi KOI cru/wroAIrcu Trpdcr^ere 
 TOV vovv ffjiols Xoyoicrt' TOV yap Kaicrapa 
 $cn|fcoi> K(i8i']Ku> vtKpov, OVK firaivfo'div, 
 
 & fltV KUKO)S TTOlOVfJifV OV dytJCTKfl OTO.V 
 
 rip-ftS) TO. d' fls ra<pas KO\S>s (Ipyacrpeva 
 rjp.lv ffvv avTols iroX\dicis Kp/i/^CTOi. 
 TI ow TO rovSe ', 'Bpovros fKTrpeTrfjs Xe-ytt 
 (pi\OTip.os cos 6 Kalpap TJV' rod' eiye 8f/ 
 OUTCOS TTOT' cr^e, Seivov rfv, 8fivu>s ye cai 
 6 Kaicrap direTtcre. vvv S' e/ioi SoKel, 
 
 1 Dux in 1847.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 3 
 
 Bpovrov T (dcravTos TraXat, KCIVTOV <pi\<i)v, 
 (avroi yap flcriv eWpeTmy, Bpovros ff 6/zov) 
 TTfpl Kaiaapos Ae'yeti'. e'/ioi p,ti> r\v <f)i\os, 
 laos T act Kal TTIO-TO'S. dAXa Bpouroj <us 
 (piXoripos r)v' K.a\ BpoSrof COTII> fKTrptTrrjS' 
 
 1847. C. R. SCOTT. ' 
 
 CHILDHOOD. 
 
 ***** 
 BLEST Childhood ! thee no darkling cares annoy, 
 No gloomy sorrows cloud thy course of joy; 
 But Gladness smiles upon thy joyous way, 
 Where many a flow'ret blossoms sweetly gay. 
 And Hope discloses to thy gladden'd sight 
 Fair fields of future pleasure, rich and bright . 
 While in thy dreams her image seems to rise, 
 And point to distant lands of cloudless skies. 
 Then, when no care our glowing spirits knew, 
 And all was fair, and all of sunny hue, 
 How sweet our games beneath the elm-tree shade, 
 And all our wand'rings o'er the mossy glade* 
 And when Aurora, from her eastern bed, 
 O'er hill and vale her radiant glories shed, 
 And streaks of redness lengthening o'er the sky, 
 Shew'd the fair daisy ope its dewy eye, 
 How sweet with youthful friend to bend our way 
 'Mong flowery landscapes stretching far away, 
 And mark, high soaring from his grassy nest, 
 The shrill lark rise to greet the dawning east, 
 And fair-plurned birds on ev'ry bending spray, 
 With glad song hail the glorious king of day. 
 
 1 Dux in 1847.
 
 356 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 And now within some far, secluded glade, 
 Where silence woos the deep and cooling shade, 
 We wander on, and trace the rural scene, 
 Where sportive lambkins frolic o'er the green, 
 And mark the ancient tower of mouldering stone. 
 Where armies fought, in ages long bygone : 
 Now Time, triumphant, rules the lonely halls, 
 And his fell scythe still rubs upon the walls ; 
 The lofty turrets falling, court the ground, 
 And ivy twines in clustering wreaths around. 
 And now we trace the stream where willows weep. 
 Or mount the grassy hillock's gentle steep, 
 'Mong heather's purple bloom, so simply gay, 
 Where cooling breezes fan the sultry day ; 
 And hear the note from yonder thorny tree, 
 The dark-plumed blackbird pours along the lea. 
 Here would we roam, till ev'ning shadows threw 
 Their misty veil o'er heav'ns expansive blue, 
 And in the west, the parting crimson glow 
 Proclaim'd that Phoebus bright had sunk below ; 
 And from his toil the peasant hied to sleep, 
 And gentle Luna peer'd above the steep. 
 
 ***** 
 On soft-spread cradle laid, in sweet repose 
 An infant sleeps, nor dreams of coming woes ; 
 And can a form so gentle, fair, and mild, 
 Become the prey of passions fierce and wild ? 
 Can sorrow's drop bedim that lovely eye ? 
 Can that soft bosom heave the swelling sigh ? 
 Ah ! ev'ry soul the ills of life must brave, 
 And trace the path that leads unto the grave : 
 Must ride on life's rough ocean-tide forlorn, 
 And brave the storms on wrathful pinion borne. 
 But who can tell what fate thy soul shall know ? 
 Or bright with joy, or sad with gloomy woe?
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 357 
 
 Perhaps on Sorrow's path condemn'd to stray, 
 
 No kindly star shall cheer thy lonely way ; 
 
 And far on life's tempestuous ocean driven, 
 
 Thy soul shall find an early home in heaven. 
 
 Or Joy shall smile, auspicious like the morn, 
 
 And gladdening Plenty show her bounteous horn ; 
 
 And round thee, free from jealousy or guile, 
 
 Thy blooming children cheer with many a smile. 
 
 Where'er thou art, where'er thy footsteps go, 
 
 Whatever Genii guide thy path below, 
 
 Still may Religion smile upon thy way, 
 
 And light thy path with many a cheering ray ; 
 
 And oh ! forbear the haunts of sin to try, 
 
 Nor tempt the shades which please the spell-bound eye ; 
 
 For Vice, though harmless seems to outward sight, 
 
 And clad in luring garments soft and bright, 
 
 If once indulged, will ply his stealing art 
 
 To spoil the good that dwells within the heart. 
 
 Till soon, perchance, fierce barb'd with death and woe, 
 
 His murderous dart shall strike the fatal blow. 
 
 So the fair ivy clasps, with tender love, 
 
 Some stately fir, the pride of all the grove, 
 
 But like the snake that hugs its fated prey, 
 
 Before it crush the spark of life away ; 
 
 So the fair tree it clothes with lovely green, 
 
 And with unfading beauty cheers the scene, 
 
 But soon, alas ! its boughs for ever dead, 
 
 The leafless fir-tree droops its wither'd head. 
 
 1847. JAMES RITCHIE. 1 
 
 1 Student in Literature, University of Edinburgh.
 
 358 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. MB W. W. CARMICHAEL, Master. 
 ARCADLE LAUDES. 
 
 Pastorum genitrix, salve, gratissima tellus, 
 
 Te patet in nullo pulchrior orbe locus. 
 Quis te, dulce solum, merito celebrabit honore ? 
 
 Quae valeant laudes dicere verba tuas ? 
 Undique cousurgunt frondoso vertice montes, 
 
 Lanigerique greges pascua laeta tenent. 
 Pan curat pecudes, tenerosque tuetur alumnos, 
 
 Nee sinit immitem tangere septa lupum. 
 Ipse jugis gradiens modulatur arundine carmen. 
 
 Et nemus argutis personal omne modis. 
 Lastitia strepitant gelidi pineta Lycaei, 
 
 Grex stupet admirans et bibit aure melos. 
 Capripedes ludunt Satyri, saltantque Napaeae, 
 
 Et Dryadum mixti Naiadumque chori. 
 Amplius baud fbedant dirze Stympbalides arva, 
 
 Nee ssevo vastat dente tiinendus aper. 
 Spicula letifero misit Tirynthius arcu, 
 
 Terribilique ferox peste levavit agros. 
 Jamque tenet " silvas et cetera rura voluptas," 
 
 Jam vocum laetus fertur ad astra sonus. 
 ! quis secura me sistat in Arcadis ora ? 
 
 Qua sic perpetuo gramine rura virent. 
 Qua frondent silvse texuntque umbracula rami. 
 
 Quaque beant laetos aurea secla viros. 
 1847. JOHANNES FRASER.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 359 
 
 FRENCH CLASS. M. DE FIVAS, Master. 
 
 ECOLE ROYALE D'EDIMBOURG. 1 
 A MONSIEUR JACQUES RUSSELL, A LONDRES. 
 
 , EDIMBOURG, 26juin 1847. 
 
 MON CHER JACQUES, J'ai re^u la lettre que vous 
 m'avez fait 1'amitie de ra'ecrire ; et, comme vous paraissez 
 le desirer, je vais vous faire une courte description de 
 notre College ou Ecole Royale d'Edimbonrg. 
 
 On ignore la date de la fondation de cette Institution, 
 mais les Archives de la ville nous apprennent qu'elle ex- 
 istait comme Ecole royale en 1519. En 1578, par le 
 zele eclaire du Roi Jacques VI., ainsi que du Clerge et du 
 Conseil Municipal, elle fut etablie sur un plan plus etendu, 
 et en meme temps elle re9ut le titre de Schola Regia Edin- 
 ensis. Le cours des etudes a ete augmente et ameliore a 
 differentes epoques, suivant la marche des progres de 1'edu- 
 cation. Depuis longtemps elle est la premiere Ecole de 
 1'Ecosse, fournissant les moyens les plus amples pour une 
 education liberale. 
 
 Le cours occupe de six a sept annees, et comprend le 
 latin, le grec, le fran9ais, et 1'allemand ; toutes les branches 
 ile 1'anglais, y compris la lecture, la declamation, la gram- 
 inaire, 1'histoire, la composition, la geographic, ancienne 
 et moderne ; les mathematiques, 1'arithmetique, 1'ecriture, 
 et la tenue des livres ; 1'escrime et la gymnastique. II y 
 a un professeur pour chaque difierente branche d'educa- 
 tion. 
 
 Un examen annuel a lieu dans la derniere semaine de 
 juillet en presence du Lord Provost, des Magistrals, du 
 Conseil Municipal, du Clerge de la Ville, des Professeurs 
 
 1 Translation of the official Prospectus of the School.
 
 360 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 de 1'TJniversite, et des autres corps savants, ainsi que du 
 public en general. Les prix, qui consistent de medailles 
 d'or et d'argent, et de livres, sont alors distribues, aux 
 eleves qui se sont le plus distingues par leurs progres ou 
 par leur bonne conduite. Les vacances continuent depuis 
 le jour de 1'Examen jusqu'au l er Octobre ; alors les classes 
 se rassemblent, et la classe Elementaire est formee pour 
 1'annee. Chaque eleve qui commence ses etudes avec 
 cette Classe continue avec le meme maitre pendant quatre 
 ans. A la cinquieme annee il passe dans la classe du 
 Principal, avec lequel il poursuit ses etudes jusqu'a ce 
 qu'il soit en etat d'entrer a 1'Universite ou de se retirer 
 pour embrasser une profession quelconque. Neanmoins, 
 on admet des eleves a differentes epoques de leurs etudes, 
 et apres un examen ils sont regus dans la classe pour la- 
 quelle ils paraissent etre assez avances. 
 
 Quant a la morale et aux devoirs religieux des eleves, 
 on y porte la plus grande attention. L'Ecriture Sainte est 
 journellement une deslegons, et latraduction du Testament 
 grec forme une partie du cours de la classe du Recteur. 
 Les etudes commencent tous les jours par une priere. 
 
 Le terrain pour la recreation est spacieux, comprenant 
 pres de deux arpents, et 1'ecole elle-meme est un edifice 
 magnifique, bati sur une elevation d'ou Ton jouit d'une 
 vue superbe. Les Eleves de cette Ecole ont encore 1'avan- 
 tage d'une belle bibliotheque, qui contient les meilleurs 
 ouvrages d'histoire, de biographic, de voyages, de littera- 
 ture, et d'histoire naturelle. 
 
 Maintenant, je conclurai ma lettre en vous priant de dire 
 bien des choses de ma part a toutes nos connaissances. 
 
 Adieu, mon cher Jacques, Croyez-moi, Votre tres sincere 
 ami. 
 
 GEORGE HAMILTON.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 3 '> 1 
 
 GERMAN CLASS. 
 
 UEBER ADALBERT VON CHAMISSO'S WERK " PETER 
 SCHLEMIHL." 
 
 WIR haben Chamisso wegen einer Schrift, die bei ihrein 
 ersten Erscheinen sehr grosses Aufsehen erregte, unter den 
 romantischen Dichtern erwahnt. Das Werk, auf welches 
 wir uns beziehen, ist unter dem Titel " Peter Schlemihl" 
 bekannt, und erziihlt die wundersamen Abenteuer und 
 Verlegenheiten eines Mannes, der seinen Schatten verkauft 
 hat. Es ist in einem besonders nachdrucksvollen Style 
 geschrieben, und tragt kaum Zeichen von der franzosischen 
 Abkunft seines Verfassers. Es ist interessant die Wirk- 
 ungen wahrzunehmen, welche die Durchlesung desselben 
 auf einen verwandten Geist, den geistreichen Hoffmann, 
 hervorbrachte. In einem Briefe Hitzigs an Fouque finden 
 wir die folgenden Worte, " Ich werde die Stunde nie ver- 
 gessen, als ich Hoffmann zum ersten Male den ' Peter 
 Schlemihl' vorlas. Er war ganz entziickt, er folgte jeder 
 Bewegung meiner Lippen, und horchte begierig, bis ich ans 
 Ende kam. Er konnte es kaum unterlassen, auf der Stelle 
 die Bekanntschaft des originellen und interessanten Ver- 
 fassers zu machen." Hoffmann ging sogar noch weiter ; 
 denn, obgleich das literarische Laster des Copirens im hb'ch- 
 sten Grade verabscheuend, konnte er doch der Versuchung 
 nicht widerstehen, die lei tende Idee des " Peter Schlemihl" 
 (namlich die Idee des von dem Dinge, welches denselben 
 verursacht, getrennten Schattens) in seine Erzahlung " Die 
 Abenteuer der Sylvester Nacht" zu iibertragen, deren Held, 
 Erasmus Spiker, in den Spiegel schauet, aber seine eigene 
 Gestalt in demselben vergebens sucht. 
 
 1847. ROBERT JOHNSTON.
 
 362 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 SCENE AFTER THE BATTLE OF ROSLIN. 
 
 WHO sits upon the heath forlorn, 
 With tresses wild and garments torn ? 
 Why rises loud that piercing cry ? 
 Why wails along that woeful sigh ? 
 No pearly tears each other chase 
 Adown the mourner's pallid face, 
 For Horror, offspring of the strife, 
 Freezes the stagnant fount of life. 
 A mother pillows on her breast, 
 Where oft before he had been prest, 
 Her dear, her only son, her stay, 
 The solace of her aged day, 
 Who, redolent with health and life, 
 That morning sought the deadly strife, 
 At eve to fill a bloody grave, 
 By lonely Esk's impurpled wave. 
 A daughter wails her slaughtered sire, 
 With sweet affection's purest fire, 
 The filial tie that knits the soul 
 To home of all our joys the goal. 
 A maiden o'er her lover bends, 
 Despair her frantic bosom rends, 
 Waving dishevelled in the air, 
 Around her floats her long black hair, 
 Which oft in happier days before 
 The modest virgin-snood had bore. 
 Oh God ! that man should thus deface 
 Of love and joy the every trace, 
 The fearful shout of war to raise, 
 And win a worthless meed of praise, 
 For foul ambition's empty prize, 
 The lives of myriads to despise,
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 363 
 
 And wade to Glory's blood-stained shore, 
 Through crimson seas of human gore. 
 O Scotland ! oft thy vales have seen 
 Of hostile arms the hated sheen, 
 Oft has the arm of rampant War 
 Urged o'er thy fields his hated car, 
 But never have thy children brave 
 Preferred dishonour to a grave, 
 But left to imperishable fame 
 A deathless and untarnished name ; 
 And long for them in minstrels' lays, 
 Shall rise the glowing tuneful praise. 
 Though oft the harp of Innisfail 
 Has chimed to many a wondrous tale, 
 And Scalds have swept the Runic lyre 
 To strains of Scandinavian fire ; 
 Yet ne'er to such inspired song, 
 Have thrilled the sounding chords along, 
 As when a measure wild, yet bland, 
 Is waked by Caledonian hand, 
 To strike the praise of Wallace wight, 
 And Royal Bruce's martial might. 
 At the proud name of Bannockburn 
 When shall a Scottish heart not burn, 
 Nor thrill when mighty strains are rung 
 Of deeds by noble Barbour sung, 
 Or that blind bard whose shronded eye 
 Pierced far through dim futurity ? 
 1848. CHARLES i
 
 364 SPECIMENS OP 
 
 THIRD CLASS. DR BOYD, Master. 
 TRANSLATION OF THE FOUR AGES FROM OVID. 
 
 WHEN, first in time, the golden age began, 
 Laden with peace and happiness to man, 
 There needed no one to avenge the cause 
 Of virtue ; for, ungovern'd yet by laws, 
 Men practis'd truth and honesty alone, 
 And fear and punishment were all unknown. 
 There were no threat'nings on the brazen plate, 
 Warning the law's transgressor of his fate. 
 There were no judges then with looks austere, 
 To fill the trembling suppliant's breast with fear. 
 Uncurst by strife, beneath each leafy grove, 
 Man dwelt with man, in harmony and love. 
 The lofty pine, cut from its native steep, 
 Was not yet launched upon the pathless deep, 
 To bear its burden to some foreign strand ; 
 Men knew no other than their native land. 
 Ditches and walls that fence the cities round, 
 Were then unknown ; unheard the trumpet's sound. 
 No plumed helm, no glittering sword had they ; 
 In peaceful rest, men pass'd their time away. 
 Untill'd by art, the ever-teeming earth 
 Spontaneous brought her ample treasures forth. 
 And, pleas'd with what her bounty had supplied, 
 In calm contentment mortals liv'd and died. 
 Cornels and strawberries were their wonted fare ; 
 While fruits the bramble and the arbute bare, 
 With tender acorns, which the passing blast, 
 Shook from the oaks, furnish'd a rich repast. 
 Then was the year but one perpetual spring ; 
 And gentle Zephyrs with their balmy wing,
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 365 
 
 Nurs'd wild-flowers of a thousand glorious dyes, 
 That bloom'd in beauty 'neath those genial skies. 
 Then the rich earth, by ploughshares yet untorn, 
 And unrenew'd, grew white with waving corn. 
 Now streams of milk, now streams of nectar flow, 
 And oaks drop honey on the sward below. 
 
 When Saturn, banish'd from the realms above. 
 Was sent to gloomy Tartarus, great Jove 
 Rul'd o'er the world, his chosen heritage, 
 And under him succeeds the silver age. 
 Another race far different times behold, 
 Better than brass, less precious than the gold. 
 Then, for the first, the shorten'd springs appear, 
 And in four seasons Jove completes the year. 
 Winter and Summer now their changes bring ; 
 With fitful Autumn, and a transient Spring. 
 With sultry heats, the air grows parch'd and dry ; 
 And Snows hang frozen in the icy sky. 
 Men who in happier days were wont to roam 
 'Neath cloudless skies, are forc'd to seek a home 
 In some dark cave, or bush with osiers twined, 
 And with soft bark and velvet mosses lined. 
 Then first is corn in the long furrows sown, 
 And 'neath the yoke the labouring oxen groan. 
 
 Now, third in order, came the brazen age, 
 When men grew fiercer and more prone to wage 
 Unhappy wars : but yet not wholly vile, 
 For goodness linger'd in the world awhile. 
 
 Succeeded then the age of iron ore, 
 Last, and by far the basest of the four ; 
 Then ancient modesty and honour fell, 
 And truth and virtue bade the world farewell.
 
 366 SPECIMENS OF 
 
 Now in their stead the cursed love of gain, 
 Deceit, and fraud, and dark oppression reign. 
 TV adventurous seaman spreads his snowy sail, 
 (Though yet unskill'd) to catch th' auspicious gale ; 
 And ships, whose timbers had but lately grown 
 On some hill side, now bound o'er seas unknown. 
 The fertile fields are measured out with care, 
 And bounds enclose what once was free as air. 
 Nor did the corn and fruits the earth produced 
 Alone suffice, but men, by greed induced, 
 Search'd her capacious bosom for the hoard 
 Of hidden treasures, which the gods had stored 
 Close by the Stygian shades, and wealth since then 
 Has proved a fruitful source of ill to men. 
 Forth from her dark recesses, fraught with ill, 
 Came hurtful steel, and gold more hurtful still, 
 While horrid war, pealing its loud alarms, 
 Wields each by turn, and shakes the clanging arms, 
 And thus on man is double woe entailed, 
 By gold corrupted, and by steel assailed. 
 Their trade is plunder, and their lives impure ; 
 Nor is the guest from treacherous host secure. 
 No ties of kindred bind the human race ; 
 Fraternal love finds here no resting-place, 
 The husband longs to see the wife expire, 
 And she repays him with a like desire. 
 A mother's hand the poison'd chalice bears, 
 And sons enquire into their father's years. 
 Now Piety, debased and prostrate lies, 
 And love grows cold, and every virtue dies. 
 Justice, at length, from human actions driven, 
 Forsakes this blood-stain'd earth and flies to heaven. 
 1848. ARCHIBALD GEIKIK.
 
 SCHOOL EXERCISES. 367 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. MR MACMILLAN, Master. 
 ROMA. 
 
 v 
 
 Roma, tuas laudes, bello clarissima facta 
 Musa tuosque viros, me celebrare jubet : 
 
 Sed mea vox humilis cantus insueta sonori, 
 Dicere virtutes imperiumque negat. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Sub ducibus Claris, quos tu, Regina, dedisti, 
 
 *Fulminibus belli, gloria quanta fuit ! 
 Sive ad vastandas veteres Carthaginis arces, 
 
 Qua Libycos fines verberat oceanus ; 
 Sive ad vincendos Gallos a Caesare ductis 
 
 Militibus virtus laurea serta parat. 
 Dum ridens laeta Libertas regnat in urbe, 
 
 Nee populus regis dicta superba timent, 
 Nee pulsi cives atroce cupidine mentes 
 
 Ad famam tollunt, Roma sub astra viget. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Heu ! Heu ! jam cecidit formosa gloria Romae, 
 
 Excutiunt sceptrum fata Deusque manu. 
 Sed tua fama manet perque omnia ssecla manebit, 
 
 In mare deducet dum Tiberinus aquas. 
 1848. EDWARD-LITTLE NELSON.
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 No. I. Page 3. 
 
 Excerpts from the Record of the Town-Council of Edinburgh, 
 relative to the High School. 
 
 1519 April 11. The quhilk day the prouest baillies and coun- 
 sall statutis and ordanis for resonabel causis moving thame that 
 na maner of nychtbouris nor induellers within this burt put thair 
 bairinis till ony particulare scule within this toun but to the prin- 
 cipale gramer scule of the samyn to be teichit in ony science bot 
 allanerlie grace buke prymmar and plane donatt under the payne 
 of xs to be tane of ilk nychtbour that breks or dois in the con- 
 trair heirof and als bot fauo to be applyit to the Maister of the 
 said principall scule for the tyme. Vol. i. folio 11. b. 
 
 1531 March 19. The quhilk day in presens of Maister Adam 
 Otterburn prouest, &c. Maister Adam Melvil maister of the hie 
 scule oblist him to mak the bairnys perfyte gramariaris within 
 time zeires. i. f. 38. a. 
 
 1555 June 14. The quhilk day the prouest baillies and conn- 
 sale has tane fra Johne botory of thraldra the haill luging lyand 
 at the fute of the blakfreir Wynd within the Cloiss therof quhilk 
 Agnes Kincaid had of him of befoir to be the gramer scole quhill 
 witsunday next to cum for xvi Ib of male to be payit to the the- 
 saurer at mertimes and Witsonday next to cum be equal por- 
 tiouns. ii. f. 51. a. 
 
 1560 May 6. The quhilk day the prouest baillies & counsall 
 ordanis Alex r Park thesaurer to content & pay to M. William 
 Robertoun maister of the gramer schole the sowme of x merks 
 for his fie of the mertymes terme last bipast. iii. f. 34. a. 
 
 a
 
 2 EXCERPTS FROM THE [APP. 
 
 1562 April 8. The same day the counsale vnderstanding the 
 greit corruptioun of the zouth be M. Williame robertoun mais- 
 ter of the gramer scole being ane abstinat papeist Ordainis tender 
 writingis to be directit fra the said counsale to my L. James 
 exhorting his L. to laubour at my lorde Robertis hand for grant- 
 ing ane gift of the office of the M. to sic ane leirnit and qualifeit 
 ma as thai can find maist abill therfore to the effect thai may 
 remove the said M. Willia fra the office foirsaid And for vphald- 
 ing and sustening of the said M. and doctouris as alssua of the 
 regentis of ane college to be beigit within this burgh and biging 
 of hospitellis that it be lauborit with the quenis g. it myt pleis 
 hir To dispone and grat to the toun the place zairdis & anuallis 
 of the freris & altarageis of the kirk. iv. f. 26. a. 
 
 April 11. The samyn day in presence of the prouest baillies 
 and counsale forsaid Maister Willia robertoun maister of the hie 
 scule being chargit to produce before thame all sic priuelege or 
 rycht as he had granttit to him be the abbotis of hallyrudhouse or 
 ony vtheris for the said scule and teiching of the bairnys thairfor 
 producit thairpresentlie ane gyft granttit be abbot carnecorse to 
 vmquhile Sir Jhoune Allane and allegit he could cum be na vther 
 at this present and that his awine gyft wes furth of this toune 
 with his bukis and vtheris his guddis be the space of twa zeris past 
 and could not get it schortlie And the said prouest baillies and 
 counsale ordanit him to produce before thame this day aucht 
 dayis his awin proper gyft with certificatioune and he failzeit thay 
 wald discharge him of his said maisterschipe and put sum vther 
 mair qualifeit in his place. iv. f. 27. a. 
 
 June 10. The quhilk day comperit Maister Willia robertoun 
 and M. Edmound hay as his prolocutour and producit his de- 
 fenssis dilatours declinatours and peremptours in writ aganis the 
 clame intentit contrar him be maister Jhoune moscrop procura- 
 tour fiscale for the toun of edinburt for removeing of him fra the 
 teiching and instructing of the zouth yairof and assignis to him 
 fryday nixt to cum to ansuer thairto partibus citatis. iv. f. 
 32. a. 
 
 June 30. The provest baillies and counsale sittand in iuge- 
 ment be sentence interlocutour Kepellis the first secound thrid 
 and ferde of the defenssis proponit be Maister Willia Robertsoun 
 pretendit Maister of the hie scole of Edinburt as thai ar proponit
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 3 
 
 and consauit aganis the clame intentit contrair him be maister 
 Jhoune moscrop procuratour to the said burgh in respect of the 
 said clame and anssueris maid to the saidis defenssis and admittis 
 the fift and sext exceptionis to the said maister Williameis pro- 
 batioun to be provin be him coniuctim as salbe appointit ressuand 
 alwise to the said maister Jhoune moscrop his defenssis quilkis 
 may result to him be inspectioun of the said maister Williameis 
 clame gift mentionat in his said fift exceptioun In pena therof the 
 said maister Williame lauchfullie warnit to this day be Jhoune 
 roger officer to haue harde interlocutour gevin and pronuceit and 
 comperit not and ordainis the said maister Williame to be warnit 
 of new to compeir on tyisday nixt to cum for taking of ane day 
 for preifing of the saidis exceptionis quhen the saidis provest 
 baillies and counsale sail prescribe to him the maner of the said 
 probatioun the said Maister Jhoune moscrop warnit apud acta. 
 iv. f. 36. a. 
 
 1562 July 22. The quhilk day the provest baillies and coun- 
 sale sittand in iugement in the terme assignit to maister william 
 robertsoun pretendit maister of the hie scole of Ed r to preif the 
 last twa exceptionis admittit to be provin this day be him 
 coniuctim proponit aganis the clame intentit contrar him be M. 
 Jhoune moscrop procutour for the toun as suld be prescriueit be 
 the saidis provest baillies & counsale Comperit the said maister 
 Williame and for probatioun of the saidis exceptionis producit 
 ane gift maid to him be the abbat of halierudehous with consent 
 of the abbay of Camskynneth his codiutor et adminstratour sub- 
 scriueit with the said abbay of Halie rudehous hand and seillit 
 with the cheptour seill thairof of the dait the Tent day of Januar 
 the zeir Jaj v c xlvi zeris And als producit ane tikat contening 
 the names vnderwritten viz lord provand M. eduard henresoun 
 M. alex r Sym M. Jhoune merioribankis baillie M. Alex r Skene 
 M. thomas Craig Alex r chaip merchand James carmichell James 
 harlaw writer patrik govant belman patrik keir ro 1 craig Alex r 
 bruce barbour M. harie blakwood M. Jhoune scherp Jhoune sin- 
 clare Jhoune ker James richie gul. Strang williame broun Tho. 
 M c Calzeane fra adamsoun to preif the rest of the saidis excep- 
 tionis and the iugeis assignis to the said Maister Jhoune moscrop 
 setterday nixt to cum to produce his obiectionis aganis the said 
 letter of gift partibus citatis.
 
 EXCERPTS FROM THE [APP. 
 
 The quhilk day M. Jho. Moscrop allegeit that na witnes suld 
 be ressauit vpoun that parte of the said M. Williameis excep- 
 tionis anent his qualificatioun quhair he ofieris to preif the 
 negative of the affirmatiue contenit in the said M. Jhouneis 
 clame viz that he is qualefeit in gramer greik & latene Becaus 
 the probatioun therof according to the tennor of the last act & 
 pronuceing of the interlocutour suld be proscriveit & appointit 
 to him be the provest baillies & counsale viz that the said maister 
 willia suld giif demonstratioun of his sciences and artis being ex- 
 aminat be sic cunning & leirnit men as thai can find maist abill 
 therto And the said M. willia allegeit in the contrar and dis- 
 assentit to all uther examinatioun nor be the witnes aboue 
 writtin. 
 
 The iuges findis that the probatioun & tryale of that pairt of 
 the said allegeance proponit be the said M. Willia tuiching his 
 habilitie and qualificatioun aut & sould ressaue uther ordour 
 tryale & probatioun nor be particular witnes as uther commoun 
 allegeanceis requiris and as the said M. Willa desireis viz. be de- 
 monstratioun of his science eruditioun and knawlege being examit 
 be cunning & leirnit men of vnderstanding in sic sciences ordour 
 & maneris as ar requeseit to be in ane ma of sic place of doctrine 
 as the said M. Williame pretendes and thairfore asignis to the 
 said M. willia To copeir before the provest baillies & counsale on 
 fryday nixt to cum betwix ii & iii houreis efternone in the over 
 tolbuith of this burt new beigit and ther to ressaue vse & leid 
 tryale & probatioun of his said qualificatioun & eruditioun be 
 demonstratioun & ostentioun of his science and knawlege being 
 thairanent examinat and requireit as ordour is in presence 
 of the saidis provest baillies & counsale be thir personis vnder- 
 writtin viz. the superintendent of lothiene Maister Jhoune Craig 
 minister of halierudehous M. George hay M. George baquhan- 
 nane M. James panter M. Jhoune hendersoun M. clement litill 
 maister James Kinpont M. dauid Colless M. Alex r Sym 4 or the 
 maister pairt or ane sufficent numer of thame quha than war 
 nammit & appointit in presence of the said M. Williame with 
 ordour giff he comperit not the tyme aboue writtin to the effect 
 foirsaid the said exception anent his qualificatioun suld be haled 
 as vnprovin the said M. Jho, & M. willia warnit heirof apud
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 5 
 
 The same day M. Willia robertoun protestit for remeid of law 
 & reductioun of the interlocutour aboue writtin and alluterlie 
 disassentit thairto. 
 
 The same day M. Jhoune moscrop askit instrumentis that M. 
 willia. robertsoun refuseit to gif demonstratioun of his knawlege 
 being examinit be the leirint men aboue writtin and in case he 
 comperit not on fryday nixt to cum the tyme & place appointit 
 protestit he be repute thairefter na apt nor erudite persoun for 
 sic office & place of doctrine as he pretendis and siklike for con- 
 tentioun of the terme. iv. f. 38. 
 
 1562 July 24. The quhilk day the provest baillies and coun- 
 sale sittand in the tolbuith comperit M. Jhoune moscrop as in the 
 terme assignit to M. William robertsoun to gif demonstratioun & 
 ostentioun of his qualificatioun being examinat be the cuning 
 and leirnit men appointit in his awn presence in iugemet the xxii 
 of July last bipast and protestit that in safer as this day wes 
 assignit to the said M. Willia to gif demonstratioun of his eru- 
 ditioun & knawlege be examination of the leirint men heir pre- 
 sent for probatioun of his exception as towart his qualificatioun 
 specifeit thairin and that the said cunning men war heir present 
 according to the desire of the Terme reddy to exa him vpon his 
 said exception anent the qualificatioun be haled & repute vnpro- 
 vin according to the certificatioun contenit in the last act. 
 
 The same day Maister edmound hay protestit that be the con- 
 fessioun of the said M. Jhonne that the desire of this terme is 
 onlie upon the probatioun of his qualificatioun quhilk is ane pairt 
 of his exceptioun that thair be na forder done as this day sen the 
 desire of the terme requireit na forder as this day. 
 
 The lugeis circumduceis the exceptioun proponit be M. willia 
 roberttoun anent the probatioun of his qualificatio this day vpon 
 his manifest contempt & contumalie warnit to this day apud acta 
 to the effect foirsaid & comperit with ane thairfore admittit the 
 said M. Jhoune Moscropis protestatioun aganis him. iv. f. 39. a. 
 
 July 25. The quhilk day the provest baillies and counsale 
 sittand in iugemet comperit Maister Jhonne moscrop and pro- 
 ducit his allegeit obiectionis in to writ aganis the pretendit gift 
 producit be M. Willia Roberttoun for probatioun of ane pairt of 
 his exceptionis admittit to his probatioun and ordanis the said 
 M. Willia roberttoun to be warnit agane tyisday nixt to cum to
 
 6 EXCERPTS FROM THE [APP. 
 
 gif in anssueris in writ to the saidis obiectionis the said M. Jhoune 
 warnit apud acta. iv. f. 39. a. 
 
 1562 August 4. The quhilk day the provest and baillies sittand 
 in iugement as in the terme assignit to maister willia robertsoun 
 pretendit maister of the hie schole of Ed r to produce anssueris 
 in writ To the obiectiouns producit be maister Jhoune moscrop 
 aganis his gift of the said schole vseit be him for probatioun of 
 ane parte of his exceptionis admittit to the said writtin probatioun 
 coperit the said M. William and desireit ane day to be assignit 
 to him of new to gif in the saidis anssueris becaus M. edmound 
 hay his procuratour wes absent and the iuges assignis to the 
 said M. Willia furisday nixt to cum to produce the saidis 
 anssueris in writ and ordanis M. Jhoune abircrumby & M. 
 eduard hendersoun to procure for him on his expenssis to the 
 returning of the said M. edmond partibus citatis. iv. f. 39. b. 
 
 August 6. The quhilk day in presence the provest and 
 baillies sittand in iugement comperit Maister Williame robert- 
 soun and producit anssueris in writ to the obiectionis gevin in 
 aganis the gift producit be him to M. Jhoune moscrop In the 
 actioun & causes persewit aganis him be the said maister 
 Jhoune and the iuges assignis setterday nixt to cum To gif sen- 
 tence heirintill partibus citatis. iv. f. 40. b. 
 
 August 11. The quhilk day the Baillies sittand in iugement 
 Be sentence interlocutour efter avisement with thair assessoris 
 repellis the haill anssueris of M. Williame robertsoun maid to 
 the obiectionis gevin in aganis his gift of scholemaisterschip be 
 M. Jhoune Moscrop in the actioun & cause persewit agains 
 him be the said M. Jhoune and admittis the said M. Jhoune to 
 preif the minoritie of the abbat of halierud house specifiet in the 
 first of his saidis obiectionis viz the said abbat to haue bene 
 within the aige of xiiij zeris the tyme of the granting of the said 
 gift to the said M. William and that in respect of the contents 
 of the said gift and for probatioun thairof assignis to him furis- 
 day nixt to cum [blank in Record] the saidis M. William & 
 M. Jhoune warnit apud acta. iv. f. 41. a. 
 
 August 13. The quhilk day in presence of the baillies sittand 
 in iugement comperit Maister Jhoune scherp procuratour for the 
 toun of Ed r and producit Jhoune Makneill Robert hendersoun 
 James Carmichell waiter carmichell & william carmichell as
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 7 
 
 witness in the actioun and cause persewit be M. Jhoune Moscrop 
 procuratour for the said toun aganis M. Williame robertsoun 
 pretendit Maister thairof quha war ressauit sworne and admittit 
 in presence of the said M. William opponand na thing againis 
 thame and the said M. William stude content that the lairde of 
 elphinstoun M. Thomas heburne Jhoune hamiltoun Maister 
 Willia Stewarte M. James chahner Chalmerlane of halierudehous 
 the lairde of Cowpemalindie florence cornetoun Jhoune Mathe- 
 soun in brochtoun James Wilkie in the Canongait Jhoune robe- 
 soun in leith M. Nicholl elphinstoun [Blank here] wit- 
 ness lauchfullie warnit to this day & comperit not suld be 
 ressauit & admittit witness in the said actioun thai being 
 sworne & purgeit of partiale counsale and the iugeis ordanis the 
 said M. Jhoune to warne the saidis witness Cratorie for forder 
 diligence and ordanis the said M. Willia to be warnit thairto. 
 iv. f. 41. a. 
 
 1562 October 3. The quhilk day Maister Thomas Makcalzeane 
 of Cliftounhall provest Maister Jhoune merioribankis and James 
 thomsoun baillies of the burgh of Edinburgh sittand in iugemet 
 as iugeis ordineris to the persoun of Maister Williame robertsoun 
 haifand consent of Robert commendatar of halierudehous do 
 cognosce in the actioun and caus persewit be maister Jhoune 
 moscrop procuratour to the said burgh aganis the said Maister 
 William That quhair the said Maister Jhoune Moscrop calling 
 to rememberance the lovabill purpois of the maist eloquent and 
 politick oratour and philosophour marcus tullius cicero willing 
 to haue marcus his sone instructit in letteris & maneris knawand 
 the maist famoiss and literat philosophour cratippus to be in- 
 structar of the zouthheid in the maist fluresant cietie of Athenis 
 and his sone to be auditour to the said cratippus within the said 
 cittie baith for the heich authoritie of the reder and cittie foir- 
 said off the quhilkis the ane mycht augment him with lettres 
 and science and that vtheris with gude exemplis and like as this 
 burgh is the maist nobill and famoiss burgh and murrour of 
 gude maneris and ciuilitie within this realme sua the same aucht 
 to haue the maist famoiss and literat pedagogis for instructing 
 of the zowthheid of the samin and to gif vtherwis wise and nobill 
 men occasioun as had the said cicero to send thair bairnis to be 
 instructit thairin To the greit incresce of science and augmenting
 
 S EXCERPTS FROM THE [ATI'. 
 
 of the commoun weill thairof And being surelie informit that 
 the said Maister Williame be the space of xvii zeris syne or 
 thairby vnder pretense of ane pedagoge qualefeit in letteris & 
 raaneris he haifand nane or litill eruditioun in gramer greik or 
 latene bot empty thairof nocht onlie hes wranguslie and igno- 
 rantlie vsurpeit the office of schole maister within this bnrt like 
 as he zit vsurpis to the greit ignominie and detractioun of the 
 fame of the samin burt and detening of the tender zouth bred 
 within the sam committit to his cure in ignorance of all letteris 
 humane and diuine Bot als schewand him self an Iniurie to godis 
 worde and contemner therof hes refusit and refussis to frequent 
 the sermonis of the trew& sincere doctrine of God and to communi- 
 cat in the tabill of the suppour of our Lorde geifand evill exampill 
 to the said tender zouth to the greit apperand perditioun of thair 
 sawlis & quhairthrow he is vnhabill to brouke the said office of 
 schole maister cum periculosum sit vt in pueritio habetur ouem 
 lupo committere et eum quern puero preceptorem adhibueris cor- 
 ruptorem experiri and thairfore the said maister william aucht 
 to be declareit and decernit vnhabill to the said office and 
 decernit to be removeit thairfra and compellit to desist and ceise 
 fra all forder exerceing of that office as at mair lenth is contenit 
 in the clame gevin in be the said M. Jhoune moscrop aganis the 
 said M. William robertsoun therupoun The richttis ressonis & 
 allegationis of baith the saidis proceis harde vnderstande & con- 
 siderit and the saidis iugeis being avisit thairwith Togidder with 
 the depositionis of diuerse famois witnes ressauit suorne & ad- 
 mittit heirto The said M. Jhoune moscrop comperand personalie 
 in iugement and the said M. William robertsoun being lauch- 
 fullie wairnit to this day be Alex r Cuke and george gourlaw 
 oflris ofttymes callit lauchfull tyme of day biddin and not com- 
 perit The saidis provest and baillies with avise of thair asses- 
 souris ffindis the said M. William to be unhabill to exerce the 
 office of scole maister within the said burgh and thairfore de- 
 cernis him to remove him self fra exerceing of the said office 
 and desist and ceise in all tymes cuming fra forder vseing and 
 exerceing thairof and dischargeis him of all teiching and in- 
 structing of the zouth within this burgh Becaus the said M. 
 Williame peremptourlie exceptand aganis the clame gevin in 
 aganis him be the said M. Jhoune moscrop allegeit that the said
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 9 
 
 clame wes negatiue consauit in that pairte quhair it contenit that 
 the said M. Williame wes woide and empty of gramer greik & 
 latene quhilk wes admittit to his probatioun and thairfore oflerrit 
 him to preif the affirmatiue thairof viz that he wes sufficientlie 
 qualifeit in gramer greik & latene quhilk wes admittit to his pro- 
 batioun as said is and ane competent terme assignit to him for 
 preifing thairof and the iugeis be thair sentence interlocutour 
 find and that parte of the exceptioun concernig the qualificatioun 
 and sufficiencie in gramer greik and latene au* and sould haue 
 beine provin be examinatioun of the said Maister Williame in 
 presence of men cuning and experte in the saidis scienceis nameit 
 to him in his presence Maisteris george baquhanane george hay 
 alexander sym Dauid colless Jhoune craig minister of halierude- 
 hous James panter James kinponte clement litill Jhoune hender- 
 soun and Jhoune spottiswod superintendent of lothiane or ane 
 sufficient numer of thame as men sufficient for taking of cogni- 
 tion vpoun his said qualificatioun and haifand experience thairin 
 and the xxii day of Julij last bipast being assignit to the said M. 
 William than personalie present To compeir before the saidis 
 provest or baillies and personis foresaidis being men of knawlege 
 and vnderstanding that same day at twa houreis efternoon in the 
 over tolbuith of the said burgh at the west end of the kirk To 
 vnderly examinatioun anent his said qualificatioun with certifica- 
 tioun & he failzeit his exceptioun in that parte suld be haldin as not 
 provin and comperit with to vnderly the said examinatioun for pro- 
 batioun of that parte of the said exceptioun wes vnprovin and 
 forder proces ordanit to be had in the said cause and als the said 
 M. Jhoune Moscrop obiectet aganis the predit gift of the said 
 Maister producit be him for preifing of ane vther parte of his ex- 
 ceptioun admittit to his probatioun grantit to him of the said 
 office be the abbat of halierudehous allegeit the same to be null, 
 Becaus the samin being of the dait the x day of Januar J m V c 
 and xlvi yeris specialie proportit to haue bene maid be the said 
 abbat with the consent of the abbat of Camskynneth adminis- 
 tratour gouvernour and gidear in spirituale and temporale thingis 
 and of the said conuent of the said place of halierudehous The 
 said gift noyther being seillit nor subscriueit be the said admi- 
 nistratour and conuent foirsaid To the quhilk it wes ansserit 
 be the said Maister William that the said abbat of halierudehous
 
 10 EXCERPTS FROM THE [APP. 
 
 wes maior the tyme of the granting of the said gyft viz of the 
 aige of xiiij zeiris compleit and thairfore it wes nocht requireit 
 to the said gift that the same suld haue bene seillit and sub- 
 scriueit be the said administratour and conuent foirsaid heirto 
 the said Maister Jlioune replyand allegeit the said abbat the 
 tyme of the geifing of the said gyft to haue bene minor inw* the 
 aige of fouretene yeris and thairfore the samin neceserlie suld 
 haue bene seillit and subscriueit be the said administratour and 
 conuent Quhilk reply being found ressonabill in respect of the 
 contentis of the said gyft wes admittit to his probatioun and ane 
 competent terme assignit to him for preifing thairof he preifit 
 the samin sumcientlie as wes cleirlie vnderstande to the saidis 
 iugeis. iv. f. 44, 45. 
 
 1562 Feb. 6. All in ane voyce ordanis ane writeing to be maid 
 in maist efiectuous maner to Maister James Quhite scottesman in 
 Londone requeisting him with all diligence to addres him to this 
 toun and to accept upoun him the maistership of the hie gramer 
 scole and teaiching of the youth of this toun And becaus thai 
 ar surelie informyt hes greit promt be his scole in Londone and 
 that he is ane man of excellent leirnying bayth in lating and 
 greik toung They all in ane voce ordanis ane yearlie pentioun to 
 be gevin to him of iiij xx [80] Ib of the readeast of thair commoun 
 gude besyde and aboue the proffet that he sail haue of the 
 bairnys scule in during thair willis And bindis and obliisses 
 thame and thair successours for thankfull payment theroff And 
 ordanis this premyss to be contenit in the said writing and the 
 samyn to be sen to the said maister James with Archibald Gra- 
 ham now at hes depairting to England with my lord Secreter and 
 request the said Archibald maist erinstlie to persuade the said 
 Maister James to address him here with deligence. iv. 60. b. 
 
 1564 November 29. Efter avisement with the supplicatioune 
 gevin in before thaim be maister Williame robertoune maister 
 of the hie scole desyring precepttis to be gevine to the thesaurer 
 chargeing him to mak him paymet of the scole maile togidder 
 with his portioune of certane yeris bigane all that awine to him 
 be the gude toune fiyndis and deliueris all in ane voce That in 
 rispectis of thair decreit pronuncit and gevine aganis the said 
 maister the thrid of October in the yeir of God I m v c Lxij zeris 
 bering him to be dischairgit of the said scole and all charge and
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 1 1 
 
 cure thairof as the said decreit at lenth proporttis That they are 
 nocht dotbund for the said maister in ony fie as dewtie scule 
 male or pentioune sene the dait of the said decreit and thairfor 
 discharges thair said thesaurer present and to cum of ony paymet 
 thairof in tymes cuming for the caussis foresaid. iv. f. 119. 1) . 
 
 1564 January 17. The quhilk day in presence of the prouest 
 baillies and counsale comperit Maister William Robertoune mais- 
 ter of the hie scule and producit the copye of the quenis Maiesteis 
 writing chargeing the provest baillies and counsall to pay to him 
 his yeirlie feis & conforme to his gyft and askit instrumetis of 
 the productioune thairof and siclike my Lord prouest askit In- 
 strumetis that he for him self the baillies and hale counsale re- 
 quyrit the said maister Williame to detine the principale writ- 
 ingis subscriuit be the quenis Maiesteis hand to remane with 
 thame becaus the samyn wes directit to thame and sould be in 
 thair keiping quhilk the said Maister William refusit. iv. 123-4. 
 
 1565 May 11. The samyn day the prouest baillies and coun- 
 sale foresaid ordanis The Quenis Maiesteis writing is underwrittin 
 to be registrit in this buke of the quhilk the tenour followis : 
 
 PROUEST AND BAILLIES OF OURE BURGH OF EDINBURGH GRETING. 
 
 Forsmekle as it is humlie menit and shawin to us be cure louit 
 Maister Williame Robertoune maister of the gramer scole of the 
 said burgh That quhair he is lauchfullie prouidit be the abbot of 
 hallirudhous and conuent of the samyn quha hes the gyft of it 
 to the said maisterschip of the said gramer scole for all the 
 dayis of his lyfe and be virteu thairof he hes bene in peciable 
 possessioune of vsing of the samyn thir auchtene yeris bipast 
 without ony interruptioune maid to him be ony persoune neuer- 
 yeles ye for quhat caussis we knaw not dalie cummeris trublis and 
 molestis the said Maister William in the vsing of the said office 
 of maisterschip of the gramer scole foresaid intending to put 
 ane vther in his place contrair oure expres mynd and will 
 Quhairfor we discharge you the said prouest and baillies of oure 
 burgh your officiers and ilkane of yow of all calling Intrometting 
 handling or removing of the said maister Williame fra his said 
 office of maisterschip in ony time to cum after the dait heirof
 
 12 EXCERPTS FROM THE [APP. 
 
 hot that ye thole him peciablie bruke and joyse the saymn dur- 
 ing his lyfetyme conforme to his said provisioun and of your 
 offices in that pairt be thir oure presentis subscriuit with cure 
 hand at Edinburt the xxvii day of februer the yeir of God l m v c 
 Ixiii yeris and of our regane the xxii yeir. 
 
 MARIE R. 
 
 PROUEST BAILLIES AND COUNSALE OF OURE BURGH OF EDINBURGH 
 WE GREIT YOW WEILL. 
 
 Forsamekle as we ar informyt ye ar addettit to oure louit 
 maister William robertoune maister of your gramer scole in the 
 sowme of twety merkis of yeirlie fee to be payit to him euer ilk 
 yeir be your thesaurer as ane act of your bukis maid to him in the 
 xlvi [1546] yeir of God proporttis and sic like that ye are haldin 
 be vtheris your actis vse and consuetude obseruit in all tymes 
 bypast by yow and your predicessouris to furnys yeirlie ane suf- 
 ficient scole hous within oure said burgh and to pay the male 
 thairof euer ilk yeir conforme to the quhilk ye haue euer sen the 
 first entres of the said Maister W m to the scple foresaid maid 
 paymet to him of the said sowme of xx merkis as for his fe fore- 
 said And rycht sua has payit euerye yeir sen syne xx merkis as 
 . for the male of the said scole hous quhil the feist of witsounday 
 last bipast sen the quhilk feist ye haue maid na paymet to him 
 nowther of his fe foresaid nor yit of his scolehous maile bot 
 haldis the samyn fra him to his greit hurt and express aganis all 
 equitie and ressoun considering he applyis himself to nane vther 
 vocatioune bot to the instructing of your bairnys and vpbringing 
 of thame in virteu Oure will is heirfor and we chairge yow 
 that ye anssuer the said Maister William and mak payment to 
 him of the saidis sowmes restand awand to him be yow fore 
 the caussis foresaid of all yeris bigane and rycht sua in tymes 
 cuming yeirlie during his prouisioune maid to him of his said 
 sendee conforme to your actis and consuetudis foresaidis as ye 
 will anssuer to ws vpoune your deutie quhairthrow that we heir 
 na forther complaynt heirupone Subscriuit with oure hand at 
 Edinburgh the xx day of december the yeir of God j m v c Lxiiij 
 yeris. Sic Subscrib. MARIE R.
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 13 
 
 Confbrme to quhilkis writing the prouest baillies and coun- 
 sale foresaid ordanis Maister Robert glene thesaurer to mak gude 
 and thankfull paymet to the said Maister Williame of his feis 
 of all termes bigane rest and awand him And sicklike of the scole 
 males and ye samyn salbe allowit in his compttis. iv. f. 128-9. 
 
 1566 June 19. Ordanis Jhone Westoun thesaurer to content 
 and pay to M. William robertoun maister of the hie scule of this 
 burt the sowme of Twenty merkis quhairof Ten merkis for the 
 witsounday termes maill in the yeir of God Jaj V c and Lxvi of 
 the said scule and the vther ten merkis for the said maisteris fie 
 and dewyte for theterme forsaid. iv. f. 151. a. 
 
 1568 July 28. The samyn day the baillies & counsall ordanis 
 Maist. alex r guthrie to ryde to Santandrois for Maist. thomas 
 buchquhennane to be maister of thair hie scole And ordanis the 
 thesaurer to refound to him his awin & the said Maister Thomas 
 expensis. iv. f. 220. b. 
 
 August 11. Ordanis the thesaurer to deliver to Maister 
 Thomas Bucquhennane the sowme of ten merkis for his expenssis 
 in remainying upoun the touns ansuer concerning the maistership 
 of the scole. iv. f. 221. 
 
 August 26. The quhilk day the provest &c. after lang res- 
 soning with Maister Thomas Buchquhennane concernying the 
 Instructing of the youth of this toun knowing him to be maist 
 abill and qualifeit therfor For thaimselffis and In name and be- 
 half of the hale counsall and dekeynes havand thair command 
 and consent therto Appoyntis and aggreis with the said Maister 
 Thomas in maner following That is to say for the first yeir in 
 cace it be knawin to thame that the said M. Thomas with the 
 fyfte merkis thay have gratet him of yeirlie pensioun with the 
 dewtie of the bairnis quhilk is iijss. of ewerie barne be nocht 
 worth thre hundreth merkis for the said first yeir or therby thay 
 sall^caus thair thesaurer present or for the tyme to gif unto him 
 vther fyftie merkis quhilk sal be i c merkis for the samen first yeir 
 and yeirlie thairefter according to ther appointment to be maid 
 fyftie merkis as said is. iv. f. 221. b. 
 
 February 11. Ordanis M r Thomas bucquhennane M r of the 
 hie scole to enter to instructt the youth of this towne on Monon- 
 day nixt and willis the Minister publische the samyn to the pe- 
 pill._iv. f. 231. a.
 
 14 EXCERPTS FROM THE [APP. 
 
 1569 June 8. Ordanis Andro Stevinsoun thesaurer to pay to 
 M r Thomas buquhanan M r of the grammer scole the sowme of 
 twentie fjve merkis for his fie of the Witsonday t me last bypast. 
 iv. f. 241. a. 
 
 November 23. The samyn day the baillies and counsall orda- 
 nis Tho 88 Henrysoun thesaurer to delyver to M r Michael Chis- 
 holme ane harie nobill gevin be him at thair comand to M r 
 Thomas M c lachlane for pleading in the touns causs agains the 
 Maister of the hie scole. iv. f. 249. a. 
 
 March 24. Ordanis the thesaurer to pay to Maister Jhoun 
 Sandelands persoun of hawik the sowme of xx Ib as compleit 
 payment of all maillis restand awand be the gude toun for the 
 gramer scole in the freir wynd and to deliver him the keyis of the 
 said scole. iv. f. 255. a. 
 
 1570 July 31. The quhilk day the baillies and counsall obleiss 
 thame and thair successours to pay to M r Thomas buchanan M r 
 of the hie scole the sowme of ane hundreth punds in satisfactioun 
 of ane decreit obtenit be him agains thame befurt (before ?) the 
 Lords at the termes contenit in ane act maid in the act buik of 
 the dait above written. iv. f. 260. b. 
 
 1679 April 29. The samyn day the Provest Baillies & Coun- 
 sall & Dekyns foirsaidis Efter lang resonying with the complaynt 
 of M. W m Robertoun M r of the hie scole of this brugh makand 
 mentioun that the instructouris or doctouris of the youthheid vnder 
 his chairge in respect of thair parentis greit ingratitude in having 
 na regaird to thair continuall travell & diligent instructing of the 
 same Avar of mynde to transpoirt thameselues to sic uther partis 
 quhair as they myt resave greitter comoditie be alsveill in Liter- 
 atur as to thair honest sustentatioun quhilk if sua happynit to 
 be the sam suld be ane greit disprayse to the haill inhabitantis 
 of the samyn brugh by & attour the greit skaith the haill youth- 
 heid suld sustene for laik of eruditioun except remeid war pro- 
 vydit thairto. 
 
 For remeid quhairof They statute & ordane that in all tymes 
 cuming Hk bairn resauing instructioun in the said hie scole being 
 born bairn vithin this burgh sail pay quarterlie to the Maister 
 thre schillingis & to his doctour twa schillingis and the said M r 
 & doctouris to take off ilk Landwart bairn his aduantage and 
 siclike that na maner of scole maisteris in ony tyme heirefter be
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 1 5 
 
 permittit to instruct or Lern ony youtheid within this brugh 
 Except they be first adrnittit be the Provest Baillies & counsale 
 thairto efter dew examinatioun & tryell tane of them quhat thair 
 qualificatioun is be the avysce of the ministeris of this burgh and 
 that vnder the payment of ane vnlaw & puneisment that the 
 contravenaet personis heirof at the luges will and ordanis pub- 
 licatioun to be opinlie maid throw all the partis of this burgh to 
 the effect nane pretend ignorance. v. f. 145. a. 
 
 1579 June 1 1 . The quhilk day be the ordinance & command of 
 Gilbert Dik Luik Wilsoune Dene of gild andro Steivinsoune the- 
 saurer alex r Udwart M r Johnne Prestoune Henry Chairteris W a 
 lytill Johnne Johnestoune and Dauid williamsoune of the coun- 
 sale Kobert Ker bailie past to the hie scole of this burgh quhair 
 sumtyme wes the blakfreir kirk of the samyn and thair possessit 
 & and placit M r W m robertoune as maister thairoff with the 
 bairnes & delyverit to him the houssis and keyis thairoff conforme 
 to the actis & ordinance maid betwix thaim & the said M. W m 
 of befoir. v. f. 145. a. 
 
 September 4. Ordanis M r James Lowsoun minister William 
 Littill and Jolm Johnstoun to pas to the hie scule of this burgh 
 and vesie the Maister of the hie scules tragedies to be maid be the 
 bairnis against the Kingis heir cuming and to report. v. f. 
 157. b. 
 
 1580 December 28. The persouns underwrittin become sour- 
 ties respective for the scholeris ffollowing quha was put in warde 
 ffor haloing of the hie schoill that thai and every ane of thame 
 sail pay to the toun the sowme of ffourtie schillingis in recom- 
 penss of the skayth done in braking of ane of the durris of the 
 said schoill at thair taking and of sext pound schillingis less 
 quhilk Dauid arthoure scholar wantit furth of his kyst in the 
 said schoill and strukin vp be thame viz. Mychaell cathcart sour- 
 tie ffor James cathcart Walter Twedy sourtie for Johne Twedy 
 Alexander lyndesay sourtie for Thomas lindesay Andro Mekill 
 sourtie for Patrik M c Cairny Barnard Kello sourtie for Thomas 
 Kello his sone Johne Cowpland sourtie for Robert Wynrame 
 Robert Arnok sourtie for Henry Arnok M r George Makesoun 
 sourtie for George Makkesoun his sone Roger heres sourtie for 
 Thomas Heres his sone and thairefore the saidis scholeris wes 
 ordanit to be put to libertie and feoled tene of the Kingis g.
 
 16 EXCERPTS FROM THE [AFP. 
 
 comand gevyn heirto and ordanit Johne Sym baillie to collect 
 the saidis sowmes & be chairget thairwith. vi. f. 110. b. 
 
 1584 March 27. The quhilk day the Provest bailzies and 
 counsale presentlie convenit gevis commissioun to henry nesbet 
 bailze Alex r Vddert henry chairteris Jhoun Jhonestoun to intreatt 
 and confer with the maister of the hie schole vpoun quhat con- 
 ditioun thai can move him to renunce his office in respect he is 
 become vnhabill to exerce the sam & to report his ansuer agane 
 to thaim. vii. f. 79. a. 
 
 April 3. In consideratioun that M. William robertoun M r of 
 the hie schole is aigeit and failzeit and yitt standis provydet to 
 the said office induring his lyfetyme quhairby the town is putt 
 in this straitt that in the ane pairt Thair yowth is neglectet and 
 nocht sufficientlie instructet and on the vther pt thai can nocht 
 remove the said M r and leve him altogidder destitute of ane in- 
 different lyfe induring his tyme Thairfore thay all in ane con- 
 sentet and agreit and be thir presentis gevis and grantes to the 
 said M. William induring his lyfetyme ane yeirlie pensioun of 
 twa hundreth merkis to be payet to him quarterlie furth of 
 thair commoun guid he renunceand & owergevand his rycht title 
 and kyndnes to the said office swa that the guid town may pro- 
 vyde ane vther sufficient habill and qualefeit persoun in his 
 rowme The first termes payment begynnand quhen the town 
 sail charge him to dimmitt his office vpoun xv dayes wairning 
 and at the quhilk tyme of his dimissioun he sail be avanceit the 
 payment of twa termes beforehand. vii. f. 79. b. and 80. a. 
 
 May 29. James Ross thesaurer to pay to M. Hercules Rol- 
 lok quha is to be maid Maister of the gramer schole the sowme 
 of twenty pund to be his expenssis travailh'ng here at the touns 
 desyre and to mak his chairges in transporting from Dundie his 
 provisioun and buiks. vii. 90. a. 
 
 June 25. Ordainis James ross to pay to M. William robertoun 
 M r of the hie schole the sowm of ane hundreth merkis as for the 
 witsounday termes last bypast of his pensioun of twa hundreth 
 merkis grantet to him be the guid town for dimissioun of his 
 office conform to the contract maid with him and the sam sail be 
 allowet to the said thesaurer. vii. f. 94. a. 
 
 August 14. At the desyre of M. Hercules Rollok maister of 
 the hie schole and for the repairing and ordering thairof ordanis
 
 NO. I.] TOWX COUNCIL RECORD. 1 7 
 
 the thesaurer to caus mend and repair the glas wyndois the 
 loks bands and uther pertinents thairof To furneis the well 
 with bukkets and water stands repair and mend the dykes and 
 hing the bell thairof commodiouslie and the expenssis thairof 
 sail be allowet in his comptis Secundlie that all uther gramer 
 scholes within this burt be visetet and dischairget and that M. 
 William Robertoun awld maister haif na mae disciples nor is 
 appoyntet to him be the toune Thridlie that all burgesses of 
 this burt halving thair childrein in hous with thame be dis- 
 chairget fra putting or retening thaire bairnis at ony uther 
 schole for lerning of gramer except the said hie schole within 
 certane dayes under ane amand to be payet to the said M. Her- 
 cules everie quarter for everie bairne utherwayes teachet Fourth- 
 lie appoynts James Nicoll bailzie Jhoun Jhonestoun M. Jhoun 
 Prestoun and Henry Chairters to conveyne togidder on Sonday 
 nixt at efternone with sic lernet men as may be had in this burt 
 To gif thaire avyse and jugementis and sett downe the forme of 
 certane cours and ordour of bulks and confessions to be tawcht 
 within the said hie schole and to distingueis the sam fra that 
 quhilk sail be teachet in the Colledge Last gevis commands to 
 the commoun clerk to gif the said M. Hercules the dowbill of the 
 contract betwix the guid toune and him and of all uther con- 
 tracts decreitts priveledges and acts maid in favours of any mais- 
 ters of the said schole in tyme past and sic writts as ar in the 
 handis of the said M. William Robertoun concerning the said 
 schole be gottin and resaivet from him. vii. f. 102. b. 
 
 1584 August 26. Ordanis the thesaurer to pay to M. Her- 
 cules Rollok maister of the hie schole the sowme of twenty fyve 
 pund for the Lambes due last bypast of his yeirlie stipend of 
 fyftie pund. vii. 104. b. 
 
 1587 September 1. Forsameikill as certaine of the scholeris 
 of the hie schole quhais names followes hes nocht onely tayne 
 vpoun thame to hald the schole againis thaire Maister bot als 
 raaist prowdlie and contempteously held the sam againis my 
 Lord Prouest [William Little] and the bailzeis & being requyrit 
 wald nocht render the sam quhairby the said prouest and bailzeis 
 wes compellit to ding in peices ane of the durris thairof and 
 win the sam be force at the quhilk tyme the said scholeris wes 
 fund with pistols swords halberts & vther wawpouns & armour 
 
 b
 
 18 EXCERPTS FROM THE [A PP. 
 
 agains al guid ordour & lawes and to the evill exampill of vtheris 
 Followes thair names Gawine Tailzeor dwelland with James 
 Williamsoun writter Nicoll Bannatyne sone to M. Thomas Ban- 
 natyne of Newtyle ane of the lordis of Sessioun Alex r Tul- 
 loch sone to Ro 4 Tulloch besyde Elgein of Murray Alex r 
 Naper sone to the laird of Merchustoun Dauid Hamiltoun sone 
 to James Hamiltoun of Ormestoun Adame Somervell sone to 
 Robert Somervell Andro Ogilvy sone to the laird of Boyne Alex r 
 Tulloch sone to William Tulloch in Nairne Jhoun Zorstoun sone 
 to Capitaine Zorstoun For the quhilk caus thai ar orderit to 
 pay the sowme of xls ilk persoun swa many as may pay the 
 samyn to the reparatioun of the dure and wyndois and to underly 
 the correctioun of thair Maister in the sicht of thair codisciples 
 And siklyke for remebrance of this present disobedience in ex- 
 ampill of vtheris to do the lyke It is ordainet and concludet 
 that na priveledge be gratet in tyme coing to any scholeris of 
 the said schole bot anes in the yeir to witt fra the xv day of May 
 to the xxii day thairof allanerly and at na vther tymes And gif 
 any vther scholaris sail seik priveledge at ony vther tyme bot as 
 said is that thai be punist in thair persouns for the samyn. viii. 
 f. 104. b. and 105. a. 
 
 1587 January 5. Ordanet proclamatioun to be maid that the 
 Maisters of the Colledge and gramer schole of this burt is to 
 enter to thair chairges and begyn thaire classes on Moonday 
 nixt to cum and thairfore warening all studentis and scholeris to re- 
 pair to thaire scholes and maisters the said day attour command- 
 ing that nane send thaire childrein to the saidis scholes quha hes 
 any seik in thair howsses under the payne of dreid. viii. f. 133. 
 
 March 6. Forsmeikill as it is complenit to thame be the 
 maisters of scholes That thai ar defrawdet of thair wedges be 
 the parents of the childer put to thame to learne Thairefore 
 ordanis proclamatioun to be maid commanding that nane putt 
 thair childeren to the saids maisters without thai pay the foresaid 
 quarter payment in hand and that thai tak thame nocht away 
 untill they pay the currin quarteris restand swa that the saids 
 maisters haif na just caus of complaynt hereafter. viii. f. 143. 
 
 1588 April 17. Anent the supplicatioun given in before 
 thame be M. Hercules Rollok Maister of the gramer schole of 
 this burt makand mentioim that quhairabout the space of four
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 1 9 
 
 yeires bypast vpoun informatioun of M r James Lowsoun and 
 uther favoreris of lerning heir he wes imployet to undertak the 
 chairge of thair hie schole in this bnrt upon sic conditiouns as 
 the trublous estaitt of this comon weill than micht suffer and 
 upon promeiss be word that after tryell of his qualificatioun and 
 diligence at the deceiss of M. William Robertsoun (quhais pen- 
 sioun wes his hinderance) or sic meitt occasioun he suld be 
 better provydet lyke as this toun hithertill hes ever bene meinfull 
 & kynd to sic as ministeris in thaire publict offices Neverthe- 
 less it is of trewt that as be Gods grace he hes gevin sufficient 
 prwif of his hability and travellis swa he fyndis the fniicts 
 thaireof towards him verray small and sclender speciallie his or- 
 dinarie stipend beand swa scairs as thair W. knawes and his 
 casualteis of the scholeris verray inconstant and be daylie occa- 
 siouns (as brunts of pest and weir) easely dissoluit bot after lang 
 tyme hardlie sett up and repairet and quhen the samyn wes at 
 greittest perfectioun the commoditeis thairof to be far inferior to 
 mennis expectatioun this than is that effect of his present switte 
 and requeist thatt it wald pleis thaire W. to tak sic ordour anent 
 him be augmenting his stipend as he may haif sum constant re- 
 lief albeit his casualteis any tyme decay and swa he be nocht 
 constraynit throw cairfull indigence to mix any uther Industrie 
 with his vocatioun quhilk in deid craves the haill mans considera- 
 tioun alswa being had of the derth incressing daylie quhairin he 
 protests faytfullie that he is nocht utherwayes covetous of thair 
 geir and howppis never to purches any store throw moyane of 
 the schole bot only is desyrous to leve soberly upoun his lawbors 
 and to saif his patrimony quhilk now he spends in thaire service 
 for uphald of his awld aige and prouisioun to his posterity and he 
 on the uther parte in cais of thair courtes dealing with him dar 
 promeis baldlie be Gods assistance the maist florissant schole 
 bayt in plaice and lerning that ony mannis memorie can record 
 within this realm als weill be his present paynis as be his monu- 
 ments quhilk he hes in hand to serve utheris hereafter to the ad- 
 vancement of Gods glorie and comfort of this comonweill as the 
 said supplicatioun proportet With the quhilk the said provest 
 baillies counsall and deykins of craftis being rypelie advyset and 
 understanding that his stipend of before extendit onely to the 
 sowm of fiftie pund yeirlie according to the cotract maid betwixt
 
 20 EXCERPTS FROM THE [AIT. 
 
 the guid toun and him Thay in consideratioun of the said supplica- 
 tioun and for the causses contenit thaireuntill and upoun howpe 
 of the said M. Hercules cair and vigilance in the faythefull dis- 
 chairge of his dewty in the said office Hes all in ane voce aug- 
 mentit and be thir presents augmentis his stipend in the sowm 
 of ane uther fyftie pund yeirlie swa his haill stipend to extend 
 to the sowme of ane hunder pund yeirlie induring the tyme of 
 his service in the said office and thairefore ordanis thaire the- 
 saurers present and to cum to mak him guid and thankfull pay- 
 ment of the reddiest of thair comon guids at the termes uset and 
 wont beginnand the said augmentatioun at the terme of Beltane 
 nixt to cum. viii. f. 149-150. 
 
 1589 August 27. For dyvers causses and consideratiouns 
 moving thame shawin on the behalf of the Maister of the gram- 
 mer schole anent the ordor to be tane of the yeirlie priveledges 
 and relaxatioun grantet to the scholeris of the said schole Gevis 
 power and commissioun to M. Hercules Rollok present maister 
 thairof to graunt to his scholeris the said priviledge twyse in 
 the yeir anes in May and anes in September ilk tyme aucht dayes 
 allanerly as the maister sail fynd comodious except sum greitt 
 occasioun interveyne that he aucht to consult with the counsell 
 and the bairnis to repare daylie to the schole twa houres at his 
 appoyntment and to keep guid ordour ix. f. 3. 
 
 1590 July 31. The Counsell hes thocht expedient statute and 
 ordainet That M. Hercules Rollok maister of the hie schole of 
 this burt and his successours maisters of the samyn graunt na 
 licence and tollerance hereafter to ony persouns by the scholleris 
 and members of the said schole and others meitt for thair com- 
 pany to exerce ony gaim or pastyme within the yaird on closure 
 of the said schole bot that instantlie after his knawledge thairof 
 he inhibit and dischairge thame in name and authoritie of the 
 magestrats of this burt and in cais of thair delay and persisting 
 in the said pastymes that he acquaint immediately the saids ma- 
 gistrats or ony of thame that order may be tayne herewith and cais 
 ony nycht bour under the jurisdictioun of this burt refuse to 
 satisfy the said maisteris dischairge and Inhibition and remove 
 fra the said bounds immediatlie the sam being tystifiet and provin 
 be the doctors of the schole sufficent witnesses the said nebours 
 sail pay ane unlaw of ten pund to the touns use and the said M.
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 21 
 
 Hercules and his successours foresaids in cais thai failzie for thair 
 part in the premiss sail likewayes pay ane unlaw and this act to 
 be extendet nocht onlie to all inhabitants of this biirt bot to 
 gentilmen and all uthers that sail cum to the samyn. ix. f. 52 
 and 53. 
 
 1590 November 11. For causses and consideratiouns moving 
 thame Inhibits and dischairges M. Hercules Rollok maister of the 
 liie schole to be surety to ony persoun for ony sowmes\>f money 
 or otherwayis under the payne of fourty pund to be payit to the 
 guid toun swa aft as he failzies. ix. f. 68. 
 
 1593 February 8. Grauntis licence to M. William Murdo to 
 have ane writting schole in ane of the chalmeris of the Hie schole 
 for teaching the bairnis thairof to writt induring the touns will 
 and to haif fourty poundis in the monet of ilk writter and ordaine 
 the thesaurer to visyt the chahner and pitt up buirds thairin. 
 ix. f. 243. 
 
 1594 July 11. The same day gevis power and commissioun 
 to M. James Balfour and M. William Watsoun ministers and com. 
 of Counsel to pas in company with Ninian M c Morane baillie to 
 the hie schole of this burt and to visyt the estaitt of the bayrinis 
 and doctors of classes thairin in thair ordor and all other things 
 neidfull to be reformiet and to mak report thairof again to the 
 counsell. ix. f. 259. 
 
 December 27. The sam day admit ts and resaives Alexander 
 Flemying to instruct the bayrnes of the hie schole in writting 
 and grantes unto him for exerce thairof the chalmer in the west 
 end of the said schole and this hi place of M. William Murdo 
 quha had the said functioun thair before and for his dewty and 
 scholage to tak and haif ten shilling of ilk bayrne quarterlie and 
 this office to stand induring the touns will allanerlie ordaining 
 him to follow and obey the ordor to be inioynet to him be M. 
 Hercules Rollok maister of the gramer schole. x. f. 15. 
 
 January 17. In consideratioun of the incres of the derth of 
 all kynd of viueris and for the gevin better occasioun to M. Her- 
 cules Rollok maister of thaire grammer schole and his doctors to 
 attend mare diligently and carefully upoun thair calling and to con- 
 tinue thairin and for dyvers other guid causs and consideratiouns 
 moving thame Thairefor hes agreit and consultet that the said 
 M. Hercules and his doctors sail tak and haif in scholage of all
 
 22 EXCERPTS FROM THE [AIT. 
 
 toun bayrines cumandto be instructet in his schole half anemerk 
 for the maister and fourty pennies quarterlie and this induring 
 the touns will allanerlie and ordaines thaime to be thankfully 
 ansret and payet. x. f. 16. b. 
 
 1595 September 16. The quhilk day Alexander Home of 
 Norbervick-maynes prouest William Naper Richert Doby 
 William Hamiltoun baillies the deyne of gild thesaurer and maist 
 pairt of the counsall and deyldns of crafts beand convenand and 
 consultand upoun the straynge accident fallin furt throw the 
 schoting and slaying of Jhoun M c Morane baillie zisternicht efter 
 fyve houres be ane schott of ane pistolett in his foreheyd & keip- 
 and the samyn and afteir halding and fenceing of thaire schirray 
 court & accusing of William Sincler scholer son to the chanceler 
 of Caithnes as scheuter of the said schott and ane lettre being 
 presentit fra his majestic for continewatioun thairof The said 
 baillies counsall and deyldns hes agreitt & votet for obedience of 
 his majestic to continew the said court to setterday nixtt and hes 
 appoyntet thir persouns to pas to his majestic at Falkland to 
 witt my Lord prouest William Naper William Hamiltoun baillies 
 Jhoun Moresoun Jhoun Robertsoun James Nicoll Jhoun Dowgall 
 George Hereot Jhoun Arnott W m Symontoun Eduard Galbrayt 
 Jhoun Watt to expone the mater to sie that the touns priveledge 
 may be keipit. x. f. 41. b. 
 
 December 26. The sam day haiffand considderatioun of the 
 euill exampill and incovenences to follow upoun the resaving anie 
 into thair grammer schole of the bayrnis quhilk held the sam 
 agains the magestratts the tyme of the slauchter of umquhil 
 Jhoun M c Morane baillie and understanding that it is nocht the 
 Kingis Majesties will that thai sail abyde thairat nochtwithstand- 
 ing the warrands Thairfore thai ordaine M. Hercules Rollok 
 Maister of the said schole to remove and putt away the said 
 bayrnis and scholleris furt of the said schole and keip thame na 
 langcr thairin under the payne of deprivatioun of him of his office 
 And als understanding that the said M. Hercules be the contract 
 appoytmet maid betwixt the said guid toun and him in anno 
 Jajv and fourscore four zeirris is oblisit to uphald the glas wyn- 
 dois of the said schole thai ordaine him to caus glas sufficentlie 
 the said wyndois of new betwix this and candilmes nixtt and to 
 uphald the sam induring his tyme in the said office And for
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 23 
 
 weighty consideratiouns moving thame Thay be thir presentis 
 dischairges the augmentatioun of the scholleris fies and dewteis 
 grauntet unto him and his doctours be ane act of counsall daittet 
 the 17 of Januar 1594 and this it is thair will and mynd And 
 last that he and his doctours attend more diligentlie upoun thaire 
 schole and scholleris teache thame sufficentlie and keip thame in 
 glitter aw and disciplyne nor thai haif done of befor for eschew- 
 ing of sic insurrectioun as hes fallin furt at sundry tymes amangst 
 thame as the said Maister and doctours will answer to the guid 
 toun And ordanis ane extract of this act to be gevin to the said 
 Mayster that he pretend na ignorance. x. f. 58. b. 59. a. 
 
 1595 February 20. Being conveint in counsall for taking 
 ordour anent thair comoun effaires and amange the rest with the 
 estait of thair gramer schole they causett call in befor thame M. 
 Hercules Rollok Maister thairaf quha coperand personallie thay 
 layit to his chairge that he had nocht observet and keippit his pairt 
 of the cotract maid betwixt the guid toun and him anno Jajv and 
 fourscore foure yeires nor yitt obeyet the act of counsall injoynit 
 to him the xx of december last bot had cotravenit the samyn and 
 inspeciill that he had nocht uphalden and repayret the glas 
 wyndois of the schole according to the said cotract and act of 
 counsall bot had sufferit the samyn to decay To the quhilk he 
 ansret that it wes nocht in his power to uphald the said wyndois 
 be ressoun that befor the said schole wes incloset with wallis 
 about the samyn wes patent to all men lyke as all the dorris be- 
 hovit to be left oppin to the warkmen and warkhors at the bigg- 
 ing of the dykes during the quhilk spaice the said wyndois could 
 nocht be keippitt. And als thay layet to his chairge that sen 
 the making of the said cotract and cotrer to the inhibitioun of 
 the said act he had tayne gritter dewty and scholage of the said 
 bayrinis nor wes cotent thairin and usit extraordinare and sinister 
 meanes to obteyne the sam quhairupoun thair arayse of laitt 
 greitt contentioun within his schole and in speciall that he had 
 refusit to teache ane bairne of James Borthuik writter albeit he 
 offerit him ane merk in the quarter quhilk wes foure tymes hes 
 ordinare dewtie To the quhilk he ansrit that he fand nane swa 
 undiscrit that wald gif him na maire nor the dewty of his cStract 
 and that he micht refuis the said James becaus he wes na burges 
 Item thay layit to his chairge that he had laitlie tayne ane gift
 
 24 EXCERPTS FROM THE [AIT. 
 
 of the office of the grammer schole of this hurt bye the toun fra 
 the abbott of Halyruidhous to thair greitt hurt and prejudice 
 To the quhilk he ansret and confest that within this twalf monet 
 lie had tane ane gift of the said abbot to be used as occasioun 
 The said baillies &c. eftir thai had removit the said Maister Her- 
 cules and incallit him againe Thay fand that he had nocht ob- 
 serve t and keippit the poyntis of the said contract for his pairt 
 thairof nor yitt obeyit the said act bot cotravenit the samyn and 
 speciallie in the poyntis foresaid and that he had failzet to the 
 guid toun in purchessing the said gift bye thair consent As alswa 
 fand that he hes gevin thame just occasioun to dischairge him the 
 said office And thairefore presently thay depryvit and dischairget 
 him the samyn in all tym coming And ordanet William Smaill 
 and Hew Broun baillies and Jhoun Jacksoun thesaurer to close 
 up the schole and intromett with the keyis thairof gif anie be. 
 x. f. 66. a. and b. 
 
 1597 November 25. Appoynts Roger M c Nacht Alex'Myller 
 with my lord prouest [Henry Nisbet] to meitt and confer with 
 twa ministers and twa lawers for taking ordour with the hie 
 schole. x. f. 156. 
 
 1598 July 21. The samin day the forme and ordour of thair 
 grammer schole being presentit and red before thaim Thay 
 ratifyet and approve the samin and ordanis it to be regisirat in 
 thair Counsell buik quhairof the tenor followis. 
 
 The opinioun counsall and advyce of the rycht honorabJl M r 
 Johne Prestoun of barnis ane of the Senators of the Colledge of 
 Justice Maisteris Johne Scherp Thomas Craig Jhon Nicolsoun 
 Jhon Russell William Oliphant & James Donaldsoun advocats 
 M r Robert Rollok principal! of the Colledge of Edinburgh Henry 
 Nisbet provest Alex r Peirsoun James Nisbet baillies of Edinburgh 
 Williame Napere deyne of gild of the sarnyn Maisteris Walter 
 Balcanquell James Balfour and William Watsoun ministeris at 
 Edinburgh M r William Scott writter convenit in the said colledge 
 26 Dec. 1597 for provyding of Maisters to the grammer schole of 
 Edinburgh as followis. 
 
 Inprimis Thay think best and expedient that thair be four 
 lernit and godlie men appomtit regents to teache the grammer 
 schole of Ed r in all tyme cuming be foure severall classis in 
 maner following.
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 25 
 
 The first clas and regent thereof sail teache the first and 
 secund rudiments of Dumbar with the colloques of Corderius and 
 on Sonday Catechesis Palatinatus. 
 
 The secund regent sail teache the rules of the first part of 
 Pelisso with Cicerois familiar epistilles and to mak sum versioun 
 thryse in the oulk and to teache thame on sonday the foresaid 
 Catechise laitlie sett owt in latine with Quid de tristibus. 
 
 The thrid regent sail teache the secund part of Pelisso with 
 the supplement of Erasmus Sintaxis Terence The metamorphosis 
 of Guide with Buquhannanis psalmes on sonday. 
 
 The ferd sail teache the thrid part of Pelisso with Buquhan- 
 nanis Prosodia Taleus figures and rhetorik figure constructionis 
 Thome Linacri Virgilius Salustius Cesaris commentaria & Florus 
 Ouidij epistole and the heroik psalmes of Buquhannane on 
 sonday. 
 
 Ukane of the foresaid four regentis sail teache thair clas in 
 severall howssis and to this effect the hie schole sail be devydit in 
 four houssis be thre parpennis. 
 
 Item to the efiect thair may be the better harmonye betuix 
 the saidis four regentis in thair procedour and teacheing and that 
 thay may the bettir answer for thair dewtie discharges simplici- 
 ter maisters or other persons quhatsumevir of teacheing of ony 
 rudiments or ony uther buik of latine in any of thair lecture 
 scholis swa that the first regent may be the mair answerabill in 
 grunding and instructing thame in Rudiments. 
 
 It is alwayes provydit in favoures of the lecture scholis That 
 nane sail be resauet in the said first clas bot he quha can 
 reid first perfytelie Inglis with sum writt and the said first 
 regent sail nawayis be sufferit to teache any the first a b c in 
 Reding. 
 
 Item the said ferd Regent sail be principall of the said schole 
 and Regentis and ha we the owersicht of thame all viz. he sail sie 
 and animadvert that every ane of the Regents keip thair awin 
 houres maner and forme of teacheing presentlie set downe and 
 that thai and ilkane of thaim continuallie awaitt all the day lang 
 upoun the schole in teacheing and exemining thair bayrnis and 
 that all the saids regents the principall as well as the other thrie 
 inferiouris ilkane of thame teache thair awin clas and that ilkane 
 of thame use correctioun upon thair awin disciples except in
 
 26 EXCERPTS FROM THE [APP. 
 
 great and notorious falts all the foure to be assemblit in ane hous 
 and have the principall regent to puneis the same. 
 
 Item the Regent of Humanitie erectit in the Colledge sail 
 teache yeirlie the Rhetorik of Cassinder The oraciouns of Cicero 
 and sail caus his schollers owklie mak schort declamations. 
 
 Item he sail teache Horace Juvenall Plautus The greik gram- 
 mer with certaine greik authoris and as the bayrnis learnis ane 
 Oracioun of Cicero he sail caus thame every ane of thame sever- 
 ally declame the samyn publictlie in the schole. 
 
 Convenit in the Counsale hous 9 Jan r y 1597 Be directioun of 
 the kirk and Counsell yesterday The provest James Nesbit Alex r 
 Peirsoun baillies with M r Walter Balcanquell & M r William 
 Watsoun ministers M r James Donaldsoun & M r William Scott 
 Agreyis that the personis following M r George Haisting sail be 
 the first regent Laurence Pacok secund M r Jhone Balfour thrid 
 and M r Alex r Home ferd and principall and sail gif ane pruife of 
 thair teacheing quhill mertimes nixt allenarlie and to begin at 
 Candlemes next and to publeis aucht dayis before be proclama- 
 tioun throw the town the provisioun of the grammer schole with 
 sufficient masters That the bayrnis may convene. 
 
 Hes thocht guid to mak the feyis and quarter payments of the 
 said regents in this maner viz. The first and secund Regents sail 
 haif quarterlie ilkane threttein schillings four penneis The thrid 
 fyftein schillings and the ferd and principall Twenty shillings. 
 
 Thair feyis the first and secund ilk ane Twenty pund The thrid 
 fourty merks and the Principall twa hunder merks. 
 
 The samin day the foresaids Provest baillies and Counsall dis- 
 chairges all maisters Regents and teachers of bayrnis in thair 
 grammer schole of all craving and Resaving of any bleyis sylver 
 of thair bayrnis and scholers as alswa of any bent sylver except- 
 and four penneis at ane tyme allenerlie. x f. 193-4. 
 
 1598 July 21. The thesaurer to pay to M. George Haistie 
 first regent of thair hie schole ten pund to Laurence Pacok 
 secund regent ten pund to M. Jhoun Balfour third regent saxty 
 merks and to M. Alex r Home first regent and principall ane 
 hundret merks as thair stipends. x. f. 194. 
 
 1599 May 4. The quhUk day the Baillies Deyne of gild and 
 maist pairt of the counsall and deykins of craftis being convenit 
 having hard and considderit the report maid vnto thame be sic as
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 27 
 
 wes deputt to confer and tak ordour with the maters of the 
 gramer schole for the caussis and considderatiouns schawin thame 
 fynds guid to Innovatt and alter and reform the tabill maid anent 
 the ordour of the grammer schole and regestratt in the counsall 
 buik the xviij day of October last in the heids and poynts follow- 
 ing To witt anent the heid quhairby the bayrnis that sail cum to 
 ony class ar ordanet to be presentet to the principall and he to 
 tak vp thair names and tak tryell of thair habilitie and enter 
 thame to ane saige according to thair capacitie It is eiket thairto 
 That gif the principall resaue any schollers to his classe quha wes 
 nocht in the hie schole thai sail be tryet and fund meitt for his 
 classe be the haill four regents of the grammer schole Item 
 anent the article concerning the xl d to be gevin to the principall 
 for ilk scholler quarterly and anent the stipend quhilk the thre 
 inferiour regents hes of the toun as als anent the quarter pay- 
 ments to be tayne be thame of thair schollers It is fund expe- 
 dient To discharge the xl d grantet to the principall Maister as 
 said is and grantis and ordanis that euerie maister resaue his 
 dewteis as foUowis To witt the first regent to tak and haif of his 
 scholleris ane merk in the quarter ilk persoun the secund sextein 
 schillings and the thrid twenty schillings and thir thre to haif na 
 stipends of the toun Be reassoun of thair honest allowance and 
 the fourt or principall maister to haif twenty schillings in the 
 quarter of ilk bayrne in his classe and to haif his ordiner stipend 
 of twa hunder merks in the yeir of the toun according to the 
 tabill and forder for this yeir allanerlie In respect of the fewnes of 
 his bayrnis thay grant vnto him ane hunder merks to be payet be 
 the toun and ordanis the said four maisters to be wayrnit to com- 
 peir before thame on wednisday nixtt to se gif thai will accept 
 the said conditionis. x. f. 234. a. 
 
 1599 November 23. Ordanis the Thesaurer to pay M. Alex r 
 Home principall of thair Gramer scole the sowme of ane hundret 
 merkis grantit to him for the yeir of God 1599 instant. x. f. 
 257. 
 
 1600 February 20. Haifing red and considderit the supplica- 
 tioun gevin in befoir thame for the pairt of the relict and bairnis 
 of umquhile M. Hercules Rollok sometyme Maister of the gramer 
 scole findis that the guid toun is nocht addettit to him in ony 
 kynd of sowme for ony thing that he might haif laid to thair
 
 28 EXCERPTS FROM THE [AIM 1 . 
 
 chairge and nevertheless of thair awin benevolence and guidwill 
 and becaus he was thair common servand and to give all uthers 
 in the lyk rank occasioun to doe thair dewtie to the guid toune in 
 thair offices Thay be thir presentis grantis and geves unto the 
 said relict and bairnis of the said umquhile M. Hercules firrth of 
 the reddiest of thair cowmone guid the sownie of fyve hundredth 
 merkis money to be payit to thame at Alhalomes nixt And or- 
 danis Jhon Jaksone thesaurer to mak payment of the same to 
 thame at the said terme and to tak thair sufficient acquitance 
 thairupoun and to be cairfull to see that the same be imployit 
 upoun land or a rent sufficientlie in lyfrent to the said relict and 
 in heritage to the saidis bairnis. x. f. 270. 
 
 1601 September 2. After lang deliberatioun fynds guid that 
 thair Hie Schole be brocht to the awld ordour of ane Maister 
 and ane schole and to alter and dischairge the last forme of 
 foure maisters and four scholes in respect that the said maisters 
 keippet nocht the ordour gevin thame quhairby many inconve- 
 nients hes followet and ordanis Thomas Fyscheares and Patrick 
 Sandelands to report the sam to the four Sessiouns of the Kirk 
 that farder ordour may be tane with the said schole. xi. f. 55. 
 
 1611 January 25. The same day after ressoning vpoun the 
 aflayres of thair hie schole and considerand how necessare it is 
 that thair be ane sufficient number of doctouris in the said 
 grammer schole vnder the principall maister thairof for the bet- 
 ter instructing of the bayrnis and attending vpoun thame quhilk 
 cannot be done without ane competent moyane for thair inter- 
 tenement Thairfore and for dyver gude consideratiounis moving 
 thame Hes with avyse of the Ministry and Sessioun of the Kirk 
 Thocht expedient grantet and consentet That all toun bayrnis 
 resortand to the said schole sail pay yeirlie at foure seuerall 
 termes vsit and wont induring the touns will the sownie of 
 twentie schillings money quhairof twelf schillings sail pertene to 
 the principall maister and aucht schillings to thair doctor for the 
 quhilk the said maister sail be oblist to provyde the number of 
 foure doctouris sufficient persouns iu conversatioun and literature 
 for whome he sail be haldin to ansuer and to cause thame do 
 thair dewty and to be thankfully payit of thair said scholage in 
 full contentatioun of all things quhilk thai may tak or haif of 
 the said bayrnis. xii. f. 56. b.
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 29 
 
 1614 April 22. The sam day vnderstanding that the bayrnis of 
 the Latyne and Vulgare scholes passis to thair pastymes vpoun the 
 Setterday before Palme Sonday ilk yeir and that the samyn is 
 fund fait with be the Sessioun of the Kirk conforme to thair act 
 maid thairanent Thairfore and for eschewing the Inconvenients 
 thairof and for dyuers other guid consideratiouns moving thame 
 Thay Inhibite and dischairges the sam impliciter in all tyme 
 cuming. xii. f. 149. b. 
 
 November 9. Ordanis in all tyme cuming M r Johnni 
 Rea maister of thair hie schole To keip and observe the reullis 
 and ordouris following In teacheing the schollers of the samme 
 Imprimis that the Rudimentaris be all under ane doctor And 
 that Dumbar's Rudiments be onlie teached as maist approved 
 and ressavit in the cuntrie The first pairt whairof is ane intro- 
 ductioun to the first pairt of the Dispauters grammer and the 
 uther pairt serveing as ane introductioun to the secund pairt of 
 Despauter And that thair be conjoynit thairwith the vocables of 
 Striuisburgius for practise of declyning Dicta Sapientium and 
 the distiche of Cato as for praxis to the uther pairt of the Rudi- 
 ments. 
 
 That the secund classe learne Despauters first pairt and con- 
 joyne thairwith Corderius Minora Colloquia Erasmi The select 
 epistles of Cicero collectit be Sturmius and quhowson thai enter 
 into the third buik of the first pairt That thai be exerceisit 
 in theimis and versiounis alternis. 
 
 That the third classe learne Despauters secund pairt and 
 thairwith the familiar epistles of Cicero his treatise de Senectute 
 or de Amicitia and that Terence be ever ane of thair lessonis 
 and gif it be fund gude to gif thame sum ingress in poesie for 
 interpretatioun as of Ovides epistles or his Tristia as also to hald 
 thaim exercised in theimis and epistles. 
 
 And that the ferd classe learne the third and fourt pairtis of 
 Dispauter with some fables of Ovid his metamorphose or Virgill 
 adjoyning thairwith Quintus Curtius or Cesaris commentaria and 
 gif thai be mair capable Suetonius And that thair exercises be 
 in versiounis and in verse making of Theimis braking and making 
 of versis as thair spiritis servis thame. 
 
 And that the hie classe learne the Rhetoricque some of Cicero 
 his oratiounis or de Oratore or de claris Oratoribus Salust Plau-
 
 30 EXCERPTS FROM THE [APP. 
 
 tus Horace Juvenall Persius And that thai be exercised in ora- 
 tiounis compositiounis versionis and in verse quhois gift servis 
 thaim And that prose and verse be taught alternative and to 
 teache the greik gramraer Lyesiod or Thergius. 
 
 And that thair be repetitiounis and disputes everie oulk siclyk 
 tuyse publict examinationis yeirlie in presence of the Ministers 
 and Magistrates The first to be in the beginning of May and 
 the uther the twentie day of October quhen the hie classe passis 
 to the Colledge and that nane be sufferit to assend in the schoole 
 or pas to the Colledge bot quha efter examinatioun ar Judgit 
 worthie. xii. f. 167-8. 
 
 1616 February 7. Comperit James Herreot merchand The- 
 saurer to the Sessioun of the kirk of Edinburgh and for fulfilling 
 of the act of the Sessioun of the kirk of Edinburgh of the dait 
 the tuentie twa day of Junii last maid delyuerie to the saidis 
 Provest baillies and counsale of the soume of Ane thousand 
 merkis in reddie gold and siclyk delyuerit to thame ane obliga- 
 tione maid be Harie Hoip merchand burges of the said burgh to 
 the Sessioun of the kirk said kirk conveying the soume of ane 
 thousand merkis to be payit at Witsonday nixt to be redelyuerit 
 to the said Harie to the effect the said Harie may mak the saidis 
 Provest baillies ane full securitie for the said soume to be payit 
 be him to thame at the said terme and that in contentatione of 
 the vther thousand merkis which he is ordanit be the said act to 
 delyuer to the saidis Provest baillies and counsall to be employit 
 vpoune annuelrent to the behuif of the four doctoris of the gram- 
 mer schole That ilk ane of thame may resaue yeirlie the soume 
 of ffiftie merkis for thair supplie in all tyme cuming at four termis 
 in the yeir Lambes Alhallowmes Candlemes and Beltane be 
 equall portionnis as at mair lenth is conteynit in the said act 
 of the dait forsaid Quhilk thousand merkis money and obliga- 
 tioun forsaidis The saidis Provest baillies and counsall acceptit 
 in full contentatione of the said soume of twa thousand merkis 
 contenit in the said act and bindis and oblisses thame and thair 
 successoris to imploy the samine to the effect forsaid and ordanis 
 Johnne Byris thesaurer present to ressaue the said soume of ane 
 thousand merkis togidder with the said obligatione and the said 
 Johne Byris and his successoris in the said office of thesaurarie to 
 content and pay to the four ordiner docteris of thair grammer
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 31 
 
 schole yeirlie ilk man the soume of fiftie merkis be four equall 
 portionnis and at the four tennis above writtin begynnand the first 
 termis payment at Lambes nixt ay and quhill the soume of twa 
 thousand merkis be imployit be thame or thair successoris vpone 
 sufficient land or annuelrent to the effect forsaid quhilk soume 
 and obligatioun forsaid the said Johnne Byris thesaurer ressaue 
 and ordanis him to be chargit thairwith in his comptis. xii. 
 f. 209-10. 
 
 1616 June 14. Ordains Johnne Byris thesaurer to len to 
 Harie Houpe merchand the soume of Tua thousand merkis 
 money ressavit be the guid toun from the Sessioun to the use of 
 the Doctors of the hie schoole to the terme of mertimes nixt for 
 payment of Ten of the hundrieth for ilk hundrieth thairof and to 
 ressaive the said Haries obligatioun for repayment thairof at the 
 said terme and ordains the said thesaurer to be chairgit thair- 
 with in his comptis and to mak payment to the said Doctors of 
 the hie schole at the several times in the yeir. xii. f. 222. 
 
 1617 March 14. Johnne Byris thesaurer to delyver the pul- 
 pitt in the hie schole to Alex. Speir to be put in the kirk of the 
 Graifriers. xii. f. 252. b. 
 
 1 564 July 26 . The Counsell taking to consideratioun the suppli- 
 catioun presented to them be Maister Hew Wallace, Maister of the 
 grammer school desyring first that sieing the Rudimentarie Classe 
 hes wanted a Doctor this some tyme bygane so that the chairge 
 thairof lay in the Maister and the three Doctors that there 
 might be a fourth admitted to the said place. Secondlie, That 
 sieing the Doctors conditioun being mean of itself will be meaner 
 far be wanting the benefite of that classe The counsell would 
 be pleased to give them some augmentatioun Thirdlie, that 
 sieing the Maister will have served againe Lambes four yeirs and 
 is payed onlie of three order might be given for payment to him 
 of the fourt lieving any acknowledgement for his transportation!! 
 to the counsells owen discretioun quhilk desyris being recom- 
 mendit to the Baillie Robert Murrey, James Ellies, David Wil- 
 kie and John Milne they gave in their report as followes That 
 a fourt Doctor be admittit That the Counsell grant augmenta- 
 tioun of the Doctors fies lieving to the Counsell the proportioun 
 of the augmentatioun and divisioun thairof That the Maister 
 be payed of the yeirs fie dew And farder that the Maister and
 
 32 EXCERPTS FROM THE [AIT. 
 
 doctoris be received in counsel! and give their Aith of fidelitie 
 and diligence That vulgar schoolmasters be dischairged to 
 teache Latine And that there be a visitatioun of the school for 
 ordering and discipline The Counsel! in relatioun to the pre- 
 mises admiits and receives Maister James Brown to be doctor of 
 the Rudimentarie classe dureing the Counsell's pleasure who 
 compeirand acceptit and gave his oath of fidelitie and diligence 
 And siklyk graunts augmentatioun to the four Doctors of ane 
 hundreth merkis be yeir to the twa hundreth merkis they had 
 amongst them formerlie quhilk maks now thrie hundreth merkis 
 yeirlie to be devydit as followis viz. to the Doctors of the twa 
 highest classes thrie scoir pundis be yeir ilk Doctor And to the 
 uther twa of the laighest classes fourtie pund cache of them 
 yeirlie to be payit at the four usual! termes of the yeir Candlemes 
 Beltan Lambes and Hallowmes, beginand the first quarteris pay- 
 ment of the new augmentatioun at Hallowmes next and ordaines 
 the Thesaurers of this Brugh to pay the same quhairanent thir 
 presents sail be their warrand And siklyk ordaines the thesau- 
 rer Andro Bryssone to content and pay to M r Hew Wallace the 
 soume of twa hundreth merkis money for his fiall anno 16 hun- 
 dred and fiftie and restand awand unpeyit and thir presents sail 
 be his warrand Lykas the said M r Hew Wallace Maister with 
 M r Francis Cockburne Maister Samuel M c kerne and M r Jo n 
 Whytlaw the other thrie Doctors compeir and gave thair oaths 
 of fidelitie and diligence And siklyk the Counsel! heirby dis- 
 chairges any vulgar schoolmaster to teache Latine within this 
 Brugh and appoyntis Hew Hamiltoun and Robert Murrey 
 baillies Ja s Ellies John Milne and Gilbert Somervell to make a 
 visite of the school for ordor and diligence. xviii. f. 106. b. 
 and 107. 
 
 1656 May 28. Graunts M r John Whytlaw and M r James 
 Brown teacheris of the two inferior classes of the grammer 
 schooll the soume of Thrie scoir punds yierlie cache of them as 
 their yeirlie ffial dureing the Counsells pleasure in respect of the 
 extraordinairie paines taken be them in the dischairge of their 
 dewtie upon the weak capacities of children in their younger yeires 
 quhilk requyres double diligence And siklyk in respect of the pau- 
 citie of the schollers they have had in their classes this wholl yeir 
 !ast be reasone of the deceist Maister his constant sickness unto
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 33 
 
 death Beginand the first termes payment at this terme of Wit- 
 sunday 1656 and so furth termlie thaireftir dureing the Coun- 
 sells pleasure as said is and ordaines the thesaurers of this brugh 
 to pay the same. xix. f. 128. 
 
 1684 April 30. The which day Anent the petitione given in 
 be the doctors of the Hie schooll mentioning that whereas it is 
 not unknowen to the Counsell that now and these severall years 
 by gone the benefeit of the schooll neither is nor haith bein able 
 to mentain them honestly as their statione does requyre and by 
 noe fa wit in them their dilligence attendance and abilityes being 
 verie weell knowen to such as intrust their children with them 
 But it meirely proceeds from the private schoolls and devisione 
 of the goverment which nurish them who (if they be suppressed 
 by authority) doe become so thair mortall enemies that they 
 effectually recomend the children and schollers to other school- 
 masters, slandering and misrepresenting the petitioners to all 
 concerned in them And by these means the hie schooll (where 
 they are and may be als weUl tawght as formerly) never flurishes 
 without which the saids petitioners cannot have a competent 
 livelehood especially if the Counsell consider that they have less 
 publick Cellary than ther predecessors Hopeing also that the 
 Counsell will considder this and with the former reasones that 
 the verrie presenters of this cittie and doctors of other gramer 
 schoolls have two hundred merks of Cellary though both of them 
 be inferior to the saids petitioners in respect to thair station and 
 the last in respect of their patrones Beseechand therfore the 
 saids Provost Baillies and Counsell that these reasones would 
 move them (hi the augmentation of the saids Petitioners Cel- 
 laries) To make some just proportion betwixt their indefatigable 
 paines and proffeit which at present is verrie litle and betwixt 
 their Cellaries and others of far inferior citties that for the present 
 they may leive as the good touns servants and as their station 
 dooth require and for the future may not be troublesome to the 
 world either in seekness or old age as the petitione bears Which 
 being considered be the Counsell they appoynt the petitioners 
 stepands or Celleries to be ane hundred punds scots each of 
 them yearly and appoynts the toun Thesaurer to pay the same 
 to them from Witsunday nixt and in tyme coming dureing the 
 Counsells pleasure. xxxi. f. 11. 
 
 c
 
 34 EXCERPTS FROM THE [APP. 
 
 1710 February 8. Bailie Francis Brodie, preses of the Col- 
 lege Committee, presented to the Council several particulars 
 concerted by the principal and professor of the College, in rela- 
 tion to the mode of teaching and discipline to be observed in the 
 High School, and which had been prepared by Principal Car- 
 stares, and seven of the professors, was presented to the toun- 
 council : The reverend primar and professors of the University of 
 Edinburgh having, at the desire of the honourable patrons, con- 
 sidered the present method of teaching in the High School, as laid 
 before them by Mr Skene the principal master, have set down their 
 thoughts on this matter in these few following particulars : 
 
 Imo. As to the grammar, they think that the fourth part 
 ought to be entirely laid aside, as being a confused heap of hard 
 Greek words in Latin characters, containing really nothing use- 
 ful that is not much better explained in the Short Compend of 
 Rhetoric which is or ought to be every year taught in the same 
 class. As to the other three parts of grammar, they are of 
 opinion that Despauter, as abridged by Novimola, may be 
 taught, until a better is agreed upon, provided care is taken to 
 supply what is wanting in the third part, De Generibus Car- 
 minum, out of Vossius or some other ; to pass over in the second 
 what is false or ridiculous, as Antiptosis erit, &c., and to alter, or 
 deliver in more intelligible words, such obscure rules as Materia 
 circa quam, &c., Natura faciens, &c. 
 
 2do. As to the authors publicly taught, the professors, con- 
 sidering that the old Latin writers, commonly called the Classics, 
 are the undoubted standard of the language, and may be justly 
 called originals, of which the best books of the moderns are but 
 copies, they cannot but think it highly reasonable to look for 
 the propriety and purity of the Latin in the fountains them- 
 selves ; and that is no disparagement to the most valued amongst 
 the latest writers, to be obliged to give place to the ancient, 
 their masters. By this preference, how just soever, they would 
 not be understood to condemn the reading, in the lower classes, 
 such books of Dialogues as were writ by learned men and great 
 masters of the language, on purpose to facilitate the practice of 
 speaking Latin, much less to thrust out of schools Buchanan's 
 immortal Paraphrase on the Psalms, which, as well upon ac- 
 count of the subject being a part of sacred Scripture, as the in-
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL EECORD. 35 
 
 imitable beauty of the verse, can never be too much read or 
 studied in Christian schools. 
 
 3tio. Concerning the method and order of reading of the 
 Latin authors in schools, their opinion in general is, that, in 
 language, as in every thing else, a master ought to begin with 
 what is most easy ; and since, in all languages, the Greek and 
 Latin, more especially poetry, is much more difficult than prose, 
 it follows that a boy ought not to attempt the one, till he is 
 well acquainted with the other ; that is, till he is master of the 
 flexion of nouns and verbs, understands the most essential rules 
 of the syntax, and can make a shift by himself to understand a 
 plain prose author. The reason of this is obvious; for the 
 poetical style, which the poets call the language of the gods, 
 differing so wide from that of history, speeches, or conversation, 
 is full of bold figures, lofty strains, and uncommon turns of wit, 
 and, therefore, cannot but often puzzle a young beginner, if he 
 comes to them illotis manibus, as we say, that is, raw and un- 
 prepared, for not having laid the foundation before mentioned. 
 Yet this needs not be extended to Sulpitius de Moribus, Cato's 
 Distichs, or any other of that kind. For these, having nothing 
 of poetry in them but the numbers, are for the most part easy 
 enough, and may be of good use in forming the manners, exer- 
 cising their memories, and improving their pronunciation. 
 
 Lastly, they are persuaded teachers cannot act a more unskil- 
 ful part with respect to their scholars, than by changing their 
 authors too often ; the skipping from one to another serving not 
 to inform, but to perplex their understanding with variety of 
 styles, as the alteration of masters is observed to retard their 
 progress, by the confusion of different methods. Nothing can be 
 more certain than that one author, carefully read, and thoroughly 
 understood, will improve a lad more in the language, and make 
 him really fitter to understand even such books as he never saw, 
 than if he had run over most or all of them in the cursory or 
 superficial way that is commonly practised. For, in this slow but 
 sure method, he will contract a familiar acquaintance with his 
 author, his style, his manner, his phrases, and form himself on his 
 model, and insensibly imitate him, as often as he has occasion to 
 speak or write. They are the more confirmed in this opinion, 
 when they consider that some authors are so excellent in their
 
 36 EXCERPTS FROM THE [AFP. 
 
 kind, as, for instance, among the poets, Terence, Virgil, and 
 Horace, and, among prose writers, Caesar and Livy, that they can 
 never be too often read, or too well understood, by such as would 
 attain to the true purity and elegance of the Latin tongue. As 
 to the translations and other exercises set down by M r Skene 
 (the disputes on Saturday being excepted, of which, with the dis- 
 cipline of the school their thoughts will appear on a paper apart), 
 together with the present method of teaching, they fully approve 
 of them, as proper and useful ; and are persuaded that such a 
 method, closely pursued, by undoubted abilities, cannot but ex- 
 ceedingly contribute to the improvement of youth in the Latin 
 tongue, and will certainly answer all the ends of a Latin school. 
 
 The list of the authors of which any may be read in the several 
 classes, is as follows : 
 
 IN THE HIGHEST CLASS ; Poets, Terence, Virgil, Lucan, Hor- 
 ace, Juvenal, Buchanan's Psalms. 
 
 Prose Authors, Cicero's Select Orations, Livy, Floras, Sallust, 
 Sueton, Vossius' little compend of Rhetoric. 
 
 IN THE SECOND CLASS ; Poets, Virgil's Pastorals, Claudian, 
 Ovid's Metamorphosis, Buchanan's Psalms. 
 
 Prose Authors, Caesar's Commentaries, Velleius Paterculus, 
 Justin, Curtius. 
 
 IN THE THIRD CLASS; Poets, Phsedrus, Ovid's Epistles or 
 Metamorphosis. 
 
 Prose Authors, Cicero's Select Epistles, Cornelius Nepos. 
 
 IN THE FOURTH CLASS, Sulpitius de Moribus, Cato's Moral 
 Distichs, Phsedri Fabulse. 
 
 Prose Authors, Corderii, Erasmi, et Castalionis Colloquia. 
 
 IN THE LOWEST CLASS, Vocables, Variae Loquendi Formulae 
 Dicta Sapientum, Rudimenta Pietatis. 
 
 In this catalogue are first left out Persius, for the sake of his 
 obscure and crabbed style, though, indeed, an author of excellent 
 thoughts and refined morality, but much fitter for the perusal of 
 men than boys. 2. The Westminster Catechism, because the Latin 
 of it lying under many exceptions, it is the opinion of the Uni- 
 versity that it may be taught to better purpose in English on the 
 Lord's day. As to Buchanan's excellent History, and his other 
 Poems, distinct from the Psalms, though left out here, upon rea- 
 sons laid down before, they may nevertheless be recommended to
 
 NO. I.] TOWN COUNCIL RECORD. 37 
 
 be read in private by those of the First Class, who, if they have 
 not lost their time, will find little difficulty in understanding him, 
 or any other modern author worth reading. 
 
 Concerning the Discipline of the school, it will be convenient 
 that the discipline of each class be exercised, as it was some years 
 ago, by its proper master in all ordinary cases. But, in great 
 faults or disorders, the boys that are guilty are to be chastised by 
 the Rector himself, that they may be ashamed, and others fright- 
 ed from the like faults : That as all the Masters have the imme- 
 diate charge of teaching and discipline in their respective classes, 
 so the Rector have not only the same charge in his own class, 
 but take care also that all the Masters wait punctually on the 
 school at the ordinary diets, be diligent and faithful in their busi- 
 ness, and if any of them should either neglect his duty, or perform 
 it superficially, or should not observe a prudent constant course 
 of discipline and good order, the Rector is then to admonish him 
 privately for the first time ; for the second, before all his col- 
 leagues ; and, if he regard not that, the Rector is, without delay, 
 to represent the matter to the Magistrates and Town council. 
 
 That the time of disputing now in the school on Saturday 
 afternoon, be employed by the Rector and Masters in reviewing 
 what hath been taught that week in their respective classes, in 
 the way that they shall think most proper and convenient for 
 the improvement of the scholars ; only, the first Saturday of 
 every month, they may be allowed to dispute as formerly : That, 
 at the ascension of the classes, particular care be taken that such 
 only be allowed to advance as understand, tolerably well at least, 
 those things that have been taught the preceding year : That the 
 scholars, every fortnight, be allowed to play and refresh themselves 
 one whole afternoon, in place of all the other ordinary occasions 
 of dismissing the school, such as entering of new scholars, the pay- 
 ing of quarter payment, at the desire of the boy that is victor at 
 Candlemas, or of gentlemen or ladies walking in the yard, &c. 
 But, on public and solemn extraordinary occasions this matter 
 must be left to the prudence and discretion of the Rector and 
 Masters. 
 
 EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY, the seventh day of February 1710 
 years. Sic sufoscrib. W. Carstares, Prin. William Hamilton, 
 P.P. Robert Stewart, P.P. Col. Drummond, P.P. Lau. Dundas,
 
 38 KOYAL PRESENTATIONS TO THE [APP. 
 
 L.L.P. Jo. Cumin, jun. S.S.T.P., Regius. John Goodale, L. 
 Heb. Pr. 
 
 Which being considered by the Council, they, with the extra- 
 ordinary deacons, approved of the foresaid Overtures, and ordain- 
 ed the same to be observed in all time coming. And, further, 
 the Council recommended that, at Whitsunday and Martinmas 
 yearly, the High School be visited by the Magistrates ; and that 
 the Rector advertise the council thereof eight days before each 
 term ; and that, for the encouraging of boys of spirit, that some 
 small reward in books be given to the best scholars in each class, 
 according to their merit, as formerly. xxxix. p. 636-42. 
 
 No. II. Page 4. 
 
 ROYAL PRESENTATIONS TO THE OFFICE OF HEAD-MASTER OF THE 
 HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 1. Charter of King James V., dated March 21, 1529-30, sanc- 
 tioning the appointment, of date Sept. 4, 1524, by the Bishop 
 of Dunkeld, of HENRY HENBYSON, M.A. [Copied from the 
 Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, vol. xxiii. No. 157.] 
 
 CARTA JACOBI \ il HENRICO HENRISOtJN, SUPER OFFICIO MAGISTERII 
 ERUDITIONIS, IN SCHOLA GRAMMATICALI DE EDINBURGH. 
 
 JACOBUS Dei gratia Rex Scotorum Omnibus probis hominibus 
 totius terraj suse, clericis et laicis, Salutem. Sciatis nos quan- 
 dam Literam donationis factam per reverendum in Christo pat- 
 rem Georgium Dunkeldensem, Episcopum, Abbatem Monastery 
 nostri Sanctse Crucis prope Edinburgh, pro tempore, cum con- 
 sensu conventus ejusdem sub eorum communi sigillo, dilecto nostro 
 Magistro Henrico Henrisoun, super officio Maglsterii eruditionis, 
 instructionis et principalis gubernationis Scolse Grammatical 
 Burgi nostri de Edinburgh, durante vita sua, cum omnibus feodis, 
 privileges, devorijs, et proficuis eidem officio pertinentibus de 
 mandate nostro visam lectam inspectam et diligenter examinatam
 
 NO. II.] OFFICE OF HEAD-MASTER. 39 
 
 sanam integram non rasam, non cancellatam, nee in aliqua sui 
 parte suspectam, ad plenum intellexisse sub hac forma : To ALL 
 AND SYNDRY to quhais knawledge thir present Lettres sail cum, 
 We George be the permissioune of God, abbot of the abbay of the 
 Haly croce besyde Edinburgh, and the Conuent of the samyn 
 chepturlie gadderit thairto, greting in God euerlesting. Forsa- 
 mekle as it is cleirlie knawin and wnderstand to us, that our louit 
 clerk and oratour Maister Dauid Vocat principale Maister and 
 Techour of our Gramar skule of the burgh of Edinburgh, hes 
 chosin his louit freind and discipill, Maister Hary Henrisoun to 
 be con-maister with him into the said skule, and to haiff the haff 
 profitis thaireof during the lyftetyme of the said Maister Dauid, 
 and is content that eftir his deceiss, the said Maister Hary suc- 
 cede and be successour to him, and heirapovn has enterit him into 
 the said scule, as autentik instruments and writings made thair- 
 upon proportis : And becauss We, the saidis Abbot and conuent 
 understandis the said Maister Hary is abill and sufficientlie qua- 
 lyfyit tharto, hes maid under him gude and perite scolaris now 
 laitlie the tyme that he was Maister of our scule withhVour burgh of 
 the Canongate, Heirfor We, for Us and for our successouris with 
 ane consent and assent hes ratifyit and apprevit, and be thir pre- 
 sentis ratifyis and approevis the said admissioune of the said 
 Maister Hary to be con-maister of the said gramar skule, and the 
 appunctuament maid betwix the said Maister Dauid and him 
 thairwpori : And mair attour, We, for the caussis forsaidis, now as 
 than, and than as now, hes gevin and grantit, and be thir pre- 
 sentis for Us and our successouris gevis and grantis frelie to the 
 said Maister Hary Henrysoun, pouir and license to be principall 
 Maister of the said gramar skule, eftir the said Maister Dauid 
 deceise and successour to him ; and nane utheris alanerly for all 
 the dayis of his lyftyme, To be haldin and to be had all and haill 
 the said skule and Maisterschip thairof with all and syndrie pro- 
 fitis, commoditeis and dewiteis perteining or that may pertene 
 thairto in tym to cum, to the said Maister Hary Henrisoun during 
 all the dayis of his lyfe foirsaid of WS and our abbay and suc- 
 cessouris to be peciabilly brukit and josit be him, als fre and sick- 
 lyke as the said Maister Dauid brukit and joisit the samyn of be- 
 foir, bot ony reuocatioune, impediment or obstakill quhatsumever, 
 And dischairgeis all utheris of ony teching of Grammar sculis
 
 40 ROYAL PRESENTATIONS TO THE [APP. 
 
 within the said burgh, except the teching and lering of lectouris 
 alanerly under the panis contenit in the Papis bullis, grantit to 
 WS thairupon. And we will the said Maister Hary Henrysoun 
 heirfor be ane gude, trew, and thankfull seruitour to ws and our 
 successouris enduring his liftyme, and to be at hie solempne 
 festuale tymes with ws the said abbat and our successouris at Hie 
 mess and evin sang with his surples wpon him to do ws sendee 
 the tyme that we sail doe devyne seruice within our said abbay 
 as efferis. The quhilk Donatioune and gift of the said Grammar 
 scule with all profittis thairof, we and our successouris sail warand 
 acquiet and defend to the said Maister Hary Henrisoune during 
 all the dayis of his lyfe, as said is, als frelie in all thingis as is 
 abone written, aganis all deidle, bot fraude or gyle. In vitnes 
 of the quhilk thing to thir present letteris, the commoun seill of 
 owr Cheptour of the said abbay is to be hungin At our said abbay 
 the ferd day of September the zeir of God 1524 zeris. QUAM 
 QUIDEM Literam ac Donationem in eadem contentam, in 
 omnibus suis punctis et articulis, conditionibus et modi? ac 
 circumstantijs suis quibuscunque in omnibus et per omnia, 
 forma pariter et effectu, approbamus, ratificamus, et pro nobis 
 et successoribus nostris, pro perpetuo ut premissum est, con- 
 firmamus, Salvis nobis et successoribus nostris juribus et ser- 
 vitijs de dicto officio ante prsesentem confirmationem nobis de- 
 bitis et consuetis. In cujus rei testimonium huic prsesenti nostra 
 Litterse Magnum Sigillum nostrum apponi praecepimus. Apud 
 Edinburgh, vicesimo primo die mensis Martij, Anno Domini, 
 Millesimo quingentesimo vicesimo nono, et regni nostri decimo 
 septimo. 
 
 [From the Register of the Privy Seal, vol. viii. f. 170.] 
 
 Mar. 21, 1529. 
 
 Preceptum Confirmationis Magistri Henrici Henrisoun super 
 litera sibi facta per reverendum in Christo patreni Georgium 
 Dunkeldensem Episcopum Abbatem Monasterii Sancte Crucis 
 prope Edinburgh pro tempore cum consensu Conventus ejusdem 
 sub eorum communi sigillo super Officio Magisterii emditionis 
 instructionis et priucipalis gubernationis Scole Generales JBurgi
 
 NO. II.] OFFICE OF HEAD-MASTER. 41 
 
 de Edinburgh durante vita sua, &c. Apud Edinburgh xxj Martij 
 anno MDXXIX. 
 
 Per Signetum. 
 
 No. II. Page 11. 
 
 2. Letter by the Regent Murray for King JAMES VI., confirm- 
 ing an appointment by the Town-Council, August 1568, in 
 favour of THOMAS BUCHANAN, M.A. [From the Record of 
 Privy Seal, April 23, 1569, vol. xxxviii. 34.] 
 
 v 
 
 ANE Letter maid with awise of my Lord Regent Ratifeand ap- 
 prevand and for oure Souerane Lord and his successouris perpe- 
 tuallie confirmand the gift and dispositioun maid be the Prouest 
 Baillieis Counsall and Communitie of the Burgh of Edinburgh 
 To Maister Thomas Bucquhannane Electing nominating making 
 and constituting the said Maister Thomas principall Maister of 
 thair Grammer scule of the said Burgh and gevand unto him the 
 office thairof for all the dayis of his lyfe with fredomes priuilegis 
 commoditeis feis and proffittis belanging thairto and utheris 
 oblismentis annixt to the same for sindrie graue and wechtie 
 caussis As at mair lenth is contenit in the said Letter under the 
 Seill of Caus and subscriptioun of the Commoun Clerk of the 
 said Burgh maid thairupoun quhilk is insert at lenth in the said 
 Letter Saulflfand alwayis and Reseruand oure Souerane Lord and 
 his successouris the richtis and service aucht and wount of the 
 same to his hienes and his predecessouris befoir this present con- 
 firmatioun &c. At Edinburgh the xxiij day of Aprile The zeir 
 of God I m V c box zeiris. 
 
 Per Signaturam.
 
 42 CASE OF BUCHANAN 
 
 No. III. Page 11. 
 
 THOMAS BUCHANAN, M.A., contra The Provost and Bailies of 
 Edinburgh. [From the Acts and Decreets of the Lords of 
 Session, deposited in the General Register House, Edinburgh, 
 vol. xlv. 260.] 
 
 Sexto Julij 1570. 
 
 ANENT the Supplicatioun gevin in be Maister Thomas Bu- 
 channan principal! Maister of the Grammer scole of Edinburgh 
 Aganis Sir W m Kirkcaldy of Grange Knycht Provest of Edin- 
 burgh Maister Michael Cheisholme Dauid Forester Henry Nes- 
 bett and Symone Merjoribankis baillies therof And the Coun- 
 sell and Communitie of the said Burgh Makand mentione that 
 quhair be vertew of ane Contract and Appointment maid at 
 Edinburgh the xxv day of Julij the zeir of God I m V c Ixviij 
 zeris betuix the Provest Baillies Counsale and Communitie of 
 the said burgh of Edinburgh on that ane part and the said M r 
 Thomas on that uther part The saidis Provest Baillies Coun- 
 sale and Communitie ar bund and obleist Incais he be removit 
 fra the Grammer scule of the said burgh be hear poweris by or 
 be thair consentis without ane notable fait and convict thairof 
 To giff and delyver to the said M r Thomas within xlviij houris 
 nixt eftir he be removit therfra the sowme of ane hundreth 
 pundis money of this realme To be usit be him at his plesour 
 And to fulfill diuerse and sindrie pointis and passis contenit in 
 the said contract to him As the samin contract at mair lenth 
 proportis quhilk is registrat in thir Townis buikis And sua in 
 effect hes the strenth of thair decreit and aucht and suld have 
 summar executioun as use is in sic cases And howbeit the 
 Lordis of Counsale hes a lang tyme syne bypast hes Decernit M r 
 William Robertoun to be restorit to the said grammer scule of 
 the said Burgh And that thairthrow the saidis Provest Baillies 
 Counsall and Communitie war and ar obleist be the said con- 
 tract to pay to the said M r Thomas the said sowme of ane hun- 
 drethe pundis within xlviij houris nixt efter the pronunceing of 
 the saidis Lordis decreit Nochttheles thay onnawyis hes nor 
 will mak him payment thairof nor fulfill the remanent pointis of
 
 NO. III.] AGAINST THE TOWN COUNCIL. 43 
 
 the said contract for thair partis to him nor yit can it seme ap- 
 perandlie that thay will put the samin to executioun upon thame 
 selfis sua that the said Maister Thomas is able to be aluterlie 
 frustrate therin except remeid be provydit therto And anent 
 the charge gevin to the saidis Provest baillies counsale and 
 Communitie To have comperit befoir the Lordis of Counsale at 
 ane certane day bypast To have hard and sene letteris bene 
 gevin upon thame in maner underwrittin Or ellis to have allegit 
 ane ressonabill caus quhy the samyn suld nocht be done lyk as 
 at mair lenth is contenit in the said supplicatione The said 
 M r Thomas Buchannan being personallie present And the saidis 
 Provest baillies Counsale and Communitie being lauchfullie 
 summond to this actioune oftymes callit and nocht comperit The 
 Lordis of Counsale Decernis and Ordanis letteris to be direct In 
 all the four formes and ilk forme to be execute within xlviij 
 houris efter utheris And the warding to be In the Castell of 
 Blacknes Incais of dissobedience Chargeing the saidis Provest 
 and Baillies To fulfill the said Contract and appointment To 
 the said Maister Thomas in all poyntis for thair part In so far 
 as the samin consistis in pacts And Siclyk Decernis and Or- 
 danis letteris to be direct to appryse compell poind and distrenzie 
 the saidis Provest and Baillies thair reddiest guidis and geir 
 for the sownies of money specifeit in the said Contract And 
 to mak the said M r Thomas to be payit of the samin Efter 
 the forme and tennour of the said Contract under the seill of 
 Caus of the said Burgh and subscryvit be Alexander Guthre 
 Commoun Clerk therof Off the dait the twentie fyve day of July 
 1568 zeiris Schawin and producit befoir the saidis Lordis Be- 
 caus the saidis Provest Baillies Counsale and Communitie wer 
 lauchfullie summond to haue comperit befoir the saidis Lordis at 
 ane certane day bypast To haue hard and sene letteris bene 
 direct at the instance of the said M r Thomas aganis the saidis 
 Provest and Baillies in maner foirsaid Or ellis to haue allegit 
 ane ressonabill caus quhy the samin suld nocht be done with 
 certificatione to thame and thai failzeit letteris wald be direct 
 upon thame In maner aboue writtin And thay being lauchfullie 
 summond to that eflect Compeirit nocht to shaw ony ressonabill 
 caus In the contrair Bot ffailzeit therintill Lyk as wes cleirlie 
 understand to the saidis Lordis.
 
 44 BOLLOCK'S CONTRACT WITH [AFP. 
 
 No. IV. Page 15. 
 
 Contract betwixt the Town of Edinburgh and HERCULES ROLLOCK, 
 M. A., Master of the High School. 
 
 AT Edinburgh, the [twenty-ninth] day of [May] the zere of 
 God I m V e foure scoir foure zeiris It is appoyntit agreit and 
 fynallie contractit betuix the Richt honorabill the Provest bail- 
 zeis counsall and deykins of Craftis of the said burgh under sub- 
 scryvand for thame selffis and in name of the haill provest bail- 
 zeis counsall deykins of Crafts and communitie of the samyn 
 and thair successoures on the ane pairt And M. Hercules Rollok 
 in Dundie on that vther pairt In maner forme and effect as after 
 followis To witt Forswamekill as the said M. Hercules sail God 
 willing vndertak and enter to the grammer schole of the said 
 burgh at Witsunday nixttocum To exerce the office of Princi- 
 pall Maister and Preceptour thairof be governing correcting and 
 instructing the zowth and persouns that sail be committit to his 
 chairge thairwithin in pietie guid maneris doctrine and letters 
 after the best ordour and custome of grammer scholes within 
 this realme or vther wayes As the said provest bailzeis and 
 counsale plesis to inioyne devyse or prescryve And' sail continew 
 thairin for all the dayis termes or zeiris of his lyfetyme At the 
 leist ay and quhill he be dischairgeit thairof be ressoun of sum 
 just occasioun or fawlt hi him fund be tryell of the said provest 
 bailzeis counsall and deykins For the quhilk caussis The said pro- 
 vest baillies counsall and deykins and thair successoures sail con- 
 tent and pay to the said M. Hercules zeirlie during the said space 
 the sowme of fyftie pounds vsuall money of this realme at twa 
 termes in the zere Candilmes and Lambes be equall halff por- 
 tiouns And sail caus euerie ane of his disciples and auditoures 
 content and pay to him at ilk terme of foure quarteris in the 
 zeir to witt lambes alhallomes candilmes and beltane fourty pen- 
 neis vsual money and to thair doctour vnder him twenty pen- 
 neis and to the notator or janitor foure penneis The saids dis- 
 ciples beand the bairins of burgesses or indwelleris of the said 
 burgh gif the parents of the said bairins be responsall or habill 
 and half the moyane and of all vtheris without the libertie and
 
 NO. IV.] THE TOWN COUNCIL. 45 
 
 fredome of the said burgh the said M. Hercules to tak and haif 
 with discretioun as he and thai can agrie And the said quar- 
 teris nocht to be considerit preciselie be the entrie of the bairne 
 to the schole bot be the course of the quarter termes foresaids 
 quhowsoeuir the bairne be bot laitlie enterit at the leist haiffand 
 remanet at the schole the half tyme of ane quarter And in 
 cais of non payment of the burgesses indwelleris of Ed r in maner 
 foresaid being responsall any of the bailzeis of the said burgh 
 for the tyme sail ressave fra the said M. Hercules ane roll or 
 tabill of the non payeris and caus ane officer or serjand pas to 
 thair howsses or vtherwayes sail tak ordour thairwith and thairby 
 sail mak sufficient payment in maner foresaid within 
 dayis after the recept of the said roll and taibill And the said 
 provest bailzeis counsall and deykins binds and oblisses thame 
 selffis and thair successoures till discharge and inhibit presentlie 
 and till exclude and stop in all tymes cuming all vther persouns 
 except the said M. Hercules and his under doctours within his 
 schole fra ordinare teacheing of grammer or latine authoures 
 within the said burgh of Ed r Except the authoris that sail be 
 teachet in the College laitlie erectit within the samyn and sail 
 maynteyne and defend and interteine the said M. Hercules and 
 his grammer schole foresaid in all thaire liberteis easements 
 commoditeis and casualiteis vset and obtenit be his laitt predi- 
 cessour last maister of the said schole but any novatioun or de- 
 rogatioun And the said M. Hercules sail beir and vse hiniselff 
 as ane honest and peacebill nichtbour of the said burgh awaitting 
 diligentlie on his vocatioun and submitting himselff to all guid 
 ordour and forme of leving Alswa the said M. Hercules sail 
 vpoun his awin chairges vphawld beitt and mend the glaisin wyn- 
 dowes loks and keyis of the grammer schole in als guid estaitt 
 as he sail resave the samyn quhilk sail be haill and sufficient in 
 all things necessar And for observing keiping and fulfilling of 
 all and sundrie the premisses bayth the said parteis binds and 
 oblisses thame selffis and thair foresaids ilk ane to vtheris be the 
 fayth and trewth in thair bodeis And for the mair sectiritie ar 
 content and Consentis That this present contract be Insert and 
 Registratt in the Commissary buiks of Edinburgh and decernit 
 to haif the strenth and effect of thair decreitt and executoriallis 
 of poynding and horning the ane but prejudice of the vther at
 
 46 
 
 BOLLOCK'S CONTRACT. 
 
 [APP. 
 
 the plesure of the partie suittand the samyn to pas thairvpoun 
 And to that effect bayth the said parteis makis constitutes and 
 ordauis and ilk ane of thame 
 
 conjunctlie and seuerallie thair procuratours in vberiore consti- 
 tutionis forma Promittentis de rato In witnes of the quhilk 
 things bath the said parteis hes subscryuet thir presents with 
 thair hands as follows day zere and place foresaid. 1 
 
 A 
 
 rV/ fr 
 
 WH 
 
 1 In addition to the names of Mr Hercules Rollock, the Rector of 
 the High School, and Alexander Clark of Balbirny, the Provost of 
 Edinburgh, of whose signatures fac-similes are given above, the names of 
 all the members of the Town Council are appended to the original 
 document, which was lately discovered among the archives of the city.
 
 NO. V.] ACT OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL. 47 
 
 No. V. Page 25. 
 
 Act of the Privy Council of Scotland, relative to a tumult in the 
 High School, September 15, 1595, when JOHN MACMORAN, a 
 magistrate of Edinburgh, was shot by one of the scholars. 
 [From the Record of the Privy Council of Scotland from 
 Sept. 1594 to Jan. 1598, folios 412-13, preserved in the Ge- 
 neral Register House, Edinburgh.] 
 
 Apud Halirudhous xxvy die mensis Nouembris 1595. 
 
 SEDEBUNT. 
 
 REX. 
 
 Lennox Newbottle Collector Prepositus, &c. 
 
 Mar Blantyre Clericus Registri Edinburgh 
 
 Setoun Murdocairny Cambuskynneth Aduocatus 
 
 Spynie Secretarius Tracquair Slamannanmuir 
 
 Thesaurarius Clericus Justiciarie Carmichaell 
 Computorum Rotulator Spott 
 
 ANENT the supplicatioun presentit to the Kingis Maiestie and 
 lordis of Secreit Counsall be George Murray, sone to Johnne 
 Murray of Spainziedaill, Robert Hoppringle, sone to the gude- 
 man of Quhytebank, Andro Douglas, sone to George Douglas, 
 seruand to the laird of Cesfurde, Raguel Bennett, sone to 
 umquhile Mungo Bennett in Chasteris, Adair, sone to 
 
 Adair of Kinhilt, Kirktoun, sone to Kirktoun 
 
 of the Tour, and Malcolme Cokburne, sone to 
 Makand mentioun, That quhair, it is nocht vnknawne to his 
 Maiestie and the saidis lordis how that thay this langtyme bigane, 
 haue bene detenit in warde within the tolbuith of Edinburgh, 
 for the vnhappie accident quhilk fell oute in the persone of WIL- 
 LIAM SINCLAIR, sone to the chancellair of Caithnes, be the 
 slauchter of umquhile Johnne M c Morane, burges of this burgh, 
 quhairof thay and euery ane of thame ar innocent, and ar willing 
 to abyde tryale thairvpoun, befoir ane vnsuspectinge ; And be- 
 caus the prouest and bailleis of this burgh, to quhome Commis-
 
 48 - ACT OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL [APP. 
 
 sioun wes geven to iuge vpoun the saidis complenaris, wer par- 
 tiall, thay being in effect baith iuge and pairty, it pleisit his 
 Maiestie, vpoun thair Supplicatioun gevin in heirvpoun, to ordane 
 Maister Mark Borthuik, iuitice depute, to sitt with the saidis 
 prouest and bailleis vpoun Mononday the xxvij of October last, 
 and putt thame to the knawlege of ane vnsuspect assise. The 
 maist halff of thair peiris, thay being all for the maist parte the 
 sonis of baronis and gentilmen, and to proceid and minister 
 iustice vpoun thame, conforme to the lawis and practique of this 
 realme. At quhilk day thay being enterit vpoun pannell, befoir 
 the saidis prouest, bailleis and iustice depute, thair tryale wes 
 cotinewit to the morne thaireftir, the xxviij day of the said* 
 moneth ; At quhilk day albeit thay micht haue iustlie declynnit 
 the saidis prouest and bailleis, and had mony gude argumentis of 
 law and practique to haue preseruit thame fra the tryale 
 of ane assise, zit thay be thair freindis and prolocutouris, 
 freelie offerit thame selffis to tryale. Prouiding that ane 
 condignne and vnsuspect assise were gevin to thame, viz. 
 of gentilmen outwith the toun of Edinburgh, according to his 
 Maiesteis ordinance, Quhilk being refuseit, thay wer com- 
 pellit to vse thair lauchfull defenssis : Quhaireupoun the saidis 
 iugeis, perceaving that thay could not gett thair intent agains the 
 saidis complenaris and mynding na thing ellis, bot to \vearie and 
 wrak thame with expenssis, they continewit thame to the fourte 
 of Nouember ; and vpoun that day, maid ane new cotinewa- 
 tioun ; quhairby it is evident, that thay intend to hald the saidis 
 complenaris in continewall warde ; and ather to compell thame 
 to becum in will for that cryme, quhairof thay ar innocent, or 
 then to submitt thame selffis to ane Assise of the burgessis of 
 this burgh, quha will not faill maist partiallie to proceid againis 
 thame. And seing his Maiestie ordainit thair tryale to haue pro- 
 ceidit vpoun the said xxvij day of October last, with certificatioun, 
 giff thay wer dilayit or cotinewit, his Maiestie wald ordane thame 
 to be putt to libertie vpoun cautioun for thair compeirance before 
 the iustice generall and his deputis. And thair withall seing thair 
 restrent in this miserable warde may gritlie importe the hasard 
 and danger of thair lyveis, besydis the tinsale of thair tyme and 
 verteous educatioun in letteris, and the grite and exorbitiit char- 
 geis quhairunto thair parentis ar drevin throu this occasioun,
 
 NO. V.] RELATIVE TO THE BARRING-OUT. 49 
 
 thay being accumpanyed with a noumer of thevis, lymmaris, and 
 vtheris malefactaris quha for all kynd of villanneis ar wardit 
 with thame; quhais euill lyffe and behaviour may produce no 
 gude effect to sum of the saidis complenaris now in thair youth ; 
 Humelie desiring thairfoir, command to be gevin to the iustice 
 dark, or his deputis, to ressaue cautioun of euery ane of thame, 
 that they sail compeir befoir the iustice and his deputis, the third 
 day of the nixt iustice air of the sherifdome quhair thay duell, or 
 sonnair vpoun fyfteine dayis wairning, and vndirly the law for the 
 said cryme, vnder the panes contenit in the actis of parliament ; 
 And the said cautioun being found in, a command thairafter to 
 be gevin, to the prouest and bailleis of Edinburgh, to putt thaim 
 to libertie, to pas quhair thay pleis, lyke as at mair lenth is co- 
 tenit in the said supplicatioun. And anent the chairge gevin to 
 the prouest and bailleis of Edinburgh, and to Niniane M c Morane, 
 bruthir to the said umquhile Johnne, to haue comperat personalie, 
 befoir his hienes and the saidis lordis this day, to haue hard 
 and sene the foirsaid desire grantit, or ellis to haue shawne ane 
 ress bu caus in the cotrar, with certificatioun to thame and thay 
 failzeit, the same desire sould be grantit. The saidis perse war is 
 compeirand be Hoppringle of Quhytebank, &c., and 
 
 the saidis prouest and bailleis and Niniane M'Morane being per- 
 sonalie present, the ressonis and allegatiounis of all the saidis 
 parteis being hard and considderit be his hienes and the saidis 
 lordis, and thay thairwith ryplie aduysit. The Kingis Maiestie 
 with adui.se of the saidis lordis, ordanis the saidis persewaris to 
 be putt to the knawlege of ane assise of thair peiris of landit 
 gentilmen duelland outwith the burgh of Edinburgh, vpoun the 
 first day of December nixt to cum, in presens of Maister Mark 
 Borthuik bis hienes iustice depute, to quhome his Ma tie adioinis 
 Schir Robert Meluill of Murdocairnie Knicht, thesaurair depute, 
 Maister Johnne Skene, dark of register, and Schir Johnne Car- 
 michael Knicht of that Ilk Knicht, to be assessouris ; Secluding 
 all vtheris assessouris ; Ordaining thame to proceid and minister 
 iustice according to the lawis and practique of this realme, Cer- 
 tifeing the said Niniane M c Morane and vtheris, the kin and 
 friendis of the said umquhile Johnne, that giff thay delay or caus 
 summond ane assise not being of the estate and rank aboue 
 writtin, That immediatlie thaireftir, the saidis persewaris sal 
 
 d
 
 50 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [A PP. 
 
 be put to lib tie vpoun cautioun in maner foirsaid, Certifeing alsua 
 the saidis persewaris, that gijff thay offer not thame selffis to the 
 knawlege of the assise foirsaid, for the said cryme, vpoun the day 
 abouementionat, that thay sal be retenit in thair present warde, 
 ay and quhill his Maiestie tak farder ordour with thame as ap- 
 perteins. 
 
 No. VI. Page 42. 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL LIST OF THE MASTERS 
 IN THE HIGH SCHOOL OP EDINBURGH, from the year 1519 
 to 1848. 
 
 1. Head-Masters or Rectors. 
 
 I. DAVID VOCAT, M.A., became Head-Master in 1519. See 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 II. HENRY HENRTSON, M. A., chosen Joint-Master with Vocat, 
 Sept. 4, 1524. See CHAP. I. 
 
 III. ADAM MELVILLE, M.A., elected in 1530. See CHAP. I. 
 
 IV. SIR JOHN ALLAN became Master in 1545. Of the per- 
 sonal history of Sir John Allan, no particulars, so far as I know, 
 have been preserved. He was a Roman Catholic priest, thence 
 his title of ' Sir,' equivalent to ' Reverend.' Dr Samuel Johnson 
 is of opinion that the title was applied to such as had taken the 
 degree of A.B. in the Universities, who are styled domini, sirs, 
 to distinguish them from Masters of Arts, who are styled magistri, 
 masters. See the Works of John Knox, collected and edited by 
 David Laing, Esq., vol. i. p. 555, ' On the title of SIR applied to 
 Priests.' 
 
 V. WILLIAM ROBERTOUN, nominated to the Mastership January 
 10th 1546. See CHAP. I. " Cristiane Douglas sumtyme spous 
 to M. William Robertoun, Maister of the grammer scole of Edin- 
 burgh, deceist the nynt day of October 1581 zeris." (Test. Re- 
 gist.) Robertoun retired from the School, May 1584, on a pension. 
 
 VI. THOMAS BUCHANAN, M.A., elected Joint-Rector, August 
 26, 1568. Some notices of this learned man have been given in
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 51 
 
 CHAP. I. When he left the High School, and settled in Stirling 
 as rector of the grammar school of that town, he there had 
 among his numerous pupils Robert Rollock, who became the 
 first Principal of the University of Edinburgh. Principal Char- 
 tens, in his memoir entitled ' De Vita Roberti Rollok,' thus ad- 
 verts to the early connexion and future friendship of these two 
 excellent individuals : " Hie prseceptorem habuit THOMAM Bu- 
 CHANANUM (magni illius Buchanani poetarum sui sseculi facile 
 principis ex fratre nepotem), spectatse tarn probitatis, turn erudi- 
 tionis virum, et egregium juventutis erudiendse magistrum, sub 
 cujus ferula ita in humanioribus literis profecit ut Buchananus 
 eum impense dilexerit, et Rollocus vicissim praeceptoris amorem 
 ita compensavit,ut multis post annis,cum Academise Edhiburgense 
 prsefectura fungeretur, nunquam eum Edinburgum pro re nata 
 venientem passus sit extra domum suam hospitari, eique insig- 
 nem ilium Commentarium in priorem ad Thessalonicenses Episto- 
 lam in testimonium gratitudinis dicarit." 
 
 I am not certain whether Thomas Buchanan left any children ; 
 but two persons of the same name, who were probably near rela- 
 tions of his, held the cure of Ceres in succession. Robert Bu- 
 chanan was there Dec. 23, 1613 (Commissary Record of St An- 
 drews); and subsequently Walter Buchanan, who sat in the 
 famous General Assembly held at Glasgow in 1638. 
 
 VII. HERCULES ROLLOCK, M.A., was appointed Head-Master 
 May 29th 1584. He left the school February 1595-6. See 
 CHAP. FIRST, where an account of his life and writings will be 
 found. See also Brace's Sermons (Wodrow edition), pp. Ivi. 
 
 LX. 
 
 VIH. ALEXANDER HuME, 1 M.A., succeeded Rollock, May 3d 
 1596. Resigned March 19, 1606, on being appointed to the 
 Mastership of the School at Prestonpans. See CHAPTERS FIRST 
 and SECOND. 
 
 Writings of Alexander Hume. 1 . A Reioynder to Doctor Hil 
 concerning the Descent of Christ into Hell. By Alexander Hume, 
 
 i Alexander Hume was married to Helen Rutherford. While resi- 
 dent in Edinburgh they had, betwixt the years 1601 and 1606, two sons 
 and a daughter. (Edinb. Register of Baptisms.) Two sons and a 
 daughter were also born in East Lothian from 1608 to 1610. (Preston- 
 pans Regist. of Baptisms.)
 
 52 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [APP. 
 
 Maister of Artes. No place of printing, printer's name, or date, 
 but apparently at London, in 1592 or 1593, 4to. Dedicated to 
 Robert Earl of Essex. 
 
 2. Ane Treatise of Conscience, quhairin divers secreits con- 
 cerning that subject are discovered. At Edinburgh, printed by 
 Robert Walde-graue, Printer to the King's Maiestie. 1594. 
 
 3. Of the Felicitie of the World to come, unsavorie to the ob- 
 stinate, alluring to such as are gone astray, and to the faithfull 
 full of consolation. Edinb. 1594, 8vo. 
 
 4. Four Discourses, of Praises unto God, to wit, 1. in Praise 
 of the Mercy and Goodness of God. 2. of his Justice. 3. of 
 his Power. 4. of his Providence. Edinb. 1594, 8vo. 
 
 5. A Didvction of the Trve and Catholik meaning of our 
 Sauiour his words, this is my bodie, in the institution of his laste 
 Supper through the ages of the Church from Christ to our owne 
 dayis. Whereunto is annexed a Reply to M. William Reynolds 
 in defence of M. Robert Bruce his arguments on this subiect : 
 displaying M. John Hammilton's ignorance and contradictions : 
 with sundry absurdities following vpon the Romane interpreta- 
 tion of these words. Compiled by Alexander Hvme, Maister of 
 the high schoole of Edinbvrgh. Edinbvrgh, Printed by Robert 
 Walde-graue, Printer to the King's Maiestie 1602. Cum Privi- 
 legio Regio. 8vo. 
 
 6. Prima Elementa Grammaticse in usum juventutis Scoticse 
 digesta. Edinburgi, 1612. Small 8vo. 
 
 7. Grammatica in usum juventutis Scoticse ad methodum re- 
 vocata. Edinburgi, 1612. Small 8vo. 
 
 8. Bellum Grammaticale, ad exemplar, M ri Alexandri Humii. 
 Edinburgi, excud. Gideon Lithgo, Anno Dom. 1658. Small 8vo. 
 Several later editions. 
 
 9. King James's Progresses, 1617 ; where is inserted a Speech, 
 in the Latin Language, delivered by Alexander Hume at Dun- 
 glass, May 13, 1617. 
 
 10. MS. in the British Museum. " Of the Orthographic of 
 the British Tongue, a treatise noe Shorter than necessarie for 
 the Schooles." (MS. Bibl. Reg. 17. A. xi.) Small 8vo. Dedi- 
 cated to King James. 
 
 11. MS. in the Advocates' Library. See CHAP. I., p. 29. 
 IX. JOH>" RAY, M.A., Professor of Humanity in the Univer-
 
 XO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 53 
 
 sity of Edinburgh, was elected Head- Master of the'High School, 
 September 17, 1606. This office he retained till 1630, when he 
 died. See CHAP. II. " In Febmary 1630, Mr John Ray, who 
 had been more than eight years Regent of the Latin Class in the 
 Colledge, and above 23 years Maister of the High Schoole, died 
 in the 63d year of his age. He had married First [Sept. 24, 
 1611,] Jonet Slowen or Aslouan, the daughter of an honest bur- 
 ges, by whom he had one son Mr John Ray [born Dec. 20, 1612. 
 Witnesses at the christening, John Hall, min., Mr John Scot of 
 Scotstarvet, and John Aslowen,] who died in his young years, and 
 three daughters [Isobel, b. Feb. 25, 1615; Helen, b. Jan. 23, 
 1617 ; Elizabeth, b. July 3, 1619.] One was married to Alex- 
 ander Coupar of Failfoord, and Helen to Robert Sinclair, brother 
 to the laird of Hermandston. Secondly, he married [Sept. 7, 
 1624, Christian] Rig, daughter to John Rig, minister at Dunni- 
 chin, in Angus, who bare to him one daughter [Christian, b. June 
 1625], married to Robert Hay, writer." (Crawford's Hist, of the 
 Univ. of Edinburgh, pp. 116-7, and Edinburgh Register of Bap- 
 tisms.) Ray edited and published in 1618, for the use of his 
 class, the Epistles of Cicero ; and this work, which was repeatedly 
 printed, he inscribed, " Integerrimis et probissimis Viris, D.D. 
 Patricio Gallova et Joanni Hall, Ecclesiae Edinburgense Pas- 
 toribus." 
 
 X. THOMAS CRAWFORD, M.A., Professor of Humanity in the 
 University of Edinburgh, succeeded Ray, Feb. 26, 1630. He 
 resigned December 31, 1640, on being elected to the Chair of 
 Mathematics in the same University. Died March 30, 1662. 
 See CHAP. II. 
 
 Writings of Thomas Crawford. 1. Locorum, Nominum pro- 
 priorum, Gentiletium, Vocumque difficiliorum, quse in Latinis 
 Scotorum Historicis occurrunt, explicatio vernacula. Ex schedis 
 nob. et clariss. D. Thomte Crawfurdii, excussit, auxit, emendavit 
 C. Irvinus. Edinburgi, 1664, small 8vo. Irving enlarged this 
 work, and published it in 1682 under his own name. 
 
 2. Notes and Observations on Mr George Buchanan's History 
 of Scotland, &c. By T. C., Professor of Philosophy and Mathe- 
 matiks in the University of Edinburgh. Edinb., printed by Mr 
 Robert Freebairn, 1708, small 8vo. 
 
 3. History of the University of Edinburgh, from 1580 to 1646.
 
 54 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [APP. 
 
 This was published from the Original MS. by Andrew Duncan, 
 sen., M.D. Edinb. 1808, 8vo. 
 
 XI. WILLIAM SPENCE, M.A., Schoolmaster of Prestonpans, 
 chosen January 2, 1641. He died May 1650 (Test. Regist. 
 Edinb.) See CHAP. II. 
 
 XII. HEW WALLACE, M.A., Rector of the Grammar School, 
 Haddington, appointed July 3, 1650 ; and on the llth September 
 1656 he died (Test. Regist. Edinb.) Margaret Abercrombie was 
 the name of his relict. See CHAP. H. 
 
 XIII. JOHN MUIR, M.A., Rector of the Grammar School, 
 Perth, became Head-Master 1656. He died December 1659. 
 
 XIV. JOHN HUME, M.A., Minister of Lesmahago, chosen 
 January 20th 1660. Died Nov. 1665. See CHAP. II. Of his 
 " Rudiments of the Latin Tongue," printed by Gideon Lithgo, 
 Edinb. 1660, sm. 8vo, only 200 copies were thrown off. (Town 
 Council Record.) 
 
 XV. DAVID FERGUSON, M.A., recommended by General 
 Monk, and elected December 6th 1665. He died Sept. 1669. 
 See Chap. II. 
 
 XVI. ANDREW RUTHERFORD, M.A., Rector of the Grammar 
 School, Jedburgh, elected October 8th 1669. He died 1672. 
 See CHAP. II. 
 
 XVII. ALEXANDER HERIOT, M.A., late Minister of Cranston, 
 chosen Head-Master May 17, 1672. He was deposed for Non- 
 conformity to Episcopacy, March 1, 1679. See CHAP. II. 
 
 XVIII. ARCHIBALD GUILLONE, M.A. He was appointed Mas- 
 ter of the Grammar School of Perth, Jan. 3, 1679, having been, 
 when chosen to that situation, schoolmaster of Prestonpans 
 (Cant's Muses Threnodie, vol. ii. p. 197) ; and Rector of the 
 High School of Edinburgh, March 12, 1679. He died April 
 1680. See CHAP. II. 
 
 XIX. WILLIAM SKENE, M.A. Elected Master of the Gram- 
 mar School, Haddington, Feb. 22, 1673 (Record of the Burgh of 
 Haddington, ap. an.); Rector of the High School of Edinburgh, 
 May 5, 1680. Died ' haistilie,' Nov. 21, 1717, aged 69 (Regist. 
 of Mort. and Test. Regist. Edinb. ap. an.) See CHAPTERS II. 
 and III. 
 
 XX. GEORGE ARBUTHNOT, M.A., Rector of the Grammar 
 School, Canongate : previously one of the Classical Masters of
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 55 
 
 this Seminary. He returned, and became Eector of the High 
 School, Nov. 27, 1717. Res. May 1735. See CHAP. III. 
 
 XXI. JOHN LEES, M.A., one of the Classical Masters of the 
 School, chosen Rector, May 21, 1735. Res. Jan. 1759. Died 
 June 1766. See CHAP. III. 
 
 XXII. ALEXANDER MATHESON, M.A., a native of Forres, was 
 elected Rector Feb. 7, 1759. Matheson, of whom a biographical 
 sketch has already been given (see CHAP. III.), resigned June 
 1768, and was appointed Joint-Rector with Mr Adam. He died 
 at his house, Merchant Court, Edinburgh, April 13th 1799, aged 
 seventy-one. He was interred in the north-east corner of St 
 Cutibert's burying ground, where, within an enclosure, is a neat 
 marble tablet, bearing the following inscription,' written by his 
 successor Dr Adam, being, in truth, an epitome of his life : 
 
 Infra situs est 
 
 ALEXANDER MATHESON, 
 
 Vir magno ingenii acumine prseditus, 
 
 Accurata Latinitatis cognitione insignis, 
 
 qui Scholae Regise Edinensi per 
 
 complures annos summa cum laude prsefuit ; 
 
 donee longinquo morbo implicitus 
 
 officium deponere coactus est ; 
 
 Valetudine autem iniqua diu conflictatus, 
 
 Ambulando ultra fidem indefessus, 
 
 Exercitatione ssepe vehementi, 
 
 ac duriter se habendo 
 
 tandem convaluit : 
 Dehinc adolescentibus literis humanioribus 
 
 ad annum setatis usque LXXI 1 " 11 
 
 privatim instituendis operam dedit. 
 
 Discipulis cams, Amicis jucundus, 
 
 Omnibus acceptus. 
 
 Idibus Aprilis decessit 
 
 Anno Domini 
 
 M.DCC.ICIX. 
 
 XXIII. ALEXANDER ADAM, LL.D., the youngest child of a 
 Morayshire farmer, was born in the beginning of June 1741, at 
 Laurieston, in the parish of Rafford. He was first taught to
 
 56 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [.Vrr. 
 
 read at a dame's school in the neighbourhood; and his liking 
 for books he ascribed to the gentle treatment he there received. 
 When removed to the parish school, the attention he paid to 
 English, and the favourable opinion of Mr George Fiddes his 
 much respected master, encouraged his parents to try him 
 on Latin. His progress was rapid ; though occasionally re- 
 tarded by being kept from school to tend his father's sheep. 
 From the noise in the family apartment in the evening, his chief 
 time of study was in the early morning, when his mother rose to 
 spin wool with her maids by the light of bituminous fir procured 
 from the peat mosses. When not quite fifteen, being considered 
 the best scholar in the school, he was chosen to supply the tem- 
 porary absence of the neighbouring teacher of Edinkillie ; where 
 he was able to maintain his superiority, though there were some 
 boys in the school older than himself, and one or two of them 
 reading Virgil. His father, about this time, incautiously nude 
 a very disadvantageous exchange of his farm, and, besides a failure 
 of his crop, lost nearly all his sheep and many of his cattle. The 
 spirit and activity of his mother alone prevented him being 
 taken from school, and set to field work with his brothers. For 
 nearly a year his attention was much interrupted by being 
 at times obliged to assist in the labours of the farm. The 
 winter of 1756-7, was occupied in teaching the school of Alves 
 while the master, Mr Joseph Anderson, afterwards minister of 
 Birnie, was at the University of Aberdeen. He was now very 
 ambitious himself to go to College, but from the losses which his 
 parents had sustained, they could not afford the necessary ex- 
 penses. In the autumn he competed for a bursary at Marischal 
 College, Aberdeen ; but was unsuccessful from having been un- 
 accustomed to write Latin. Meanwhile he had been strongly 
 recommended and had himself applied to the Rev. James Watson, 1 
 
 1 The Rev. James Watson commenced his career as Master of George 
 Watson's Hospital. He received license from the Presbytery of Edin- 
 burgh, Aug. 28. 1745 ; and on the 19th August of the year following 
 he was ordained Minister of the parish of Newbattle ; whence he was 
 translated by the General Assembly, and admitted to the First Charge 
 of the Canongate, in the summer of 1753. In that parish he continued 
 faithfully to discharge his pastoral duties till his death, which occurred 
 Nov. 5. 1763.
 
 XO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 57 
 
 one of the ministers of the Canongate, Edinburgh. This able and 
 benevolent man, an honour to the Church of Scotland, was a 
 cousin of the elder Adam, by whom he was assisted when a stu- 
 dent. From Mr Watson, the subject of this sketch, in his last 
 perplexity, received the following letter : 
 
 CANOXGATE, 12th October 1757. 
 
 DEAR Sra, I got both your letters in course, and had it not 
 been for the first, you might have been provided in business at 
 this term. I will, for the sake of your parents, for whom I have 
 a very great regard, do for you all that lies in my power ; only, 
 if you are not willing to undergo any hardships for a season, I 
 should not advise you to seek your fortune any where from home. 
 If you can resolve on this, come up to this place immediately 
 upon receiving this, and I doubt not but it may be in my power 
 to put you in a way of getting bread. I expect that you will not 
 hesitate because I have spoken of hardships ; and the first you 
 must undergo, is to travel to this place, when the winter is com- 
 ing on : but this is necessary, because the Colleges meet very 
 soon. You must make no preparation for your journey, except 
 a little money, and some linen ; for other clothes, take such as 
 you have, and come straight to me, upon your arrival. I leave 
 all the rest till meeting, and am your friend, 
 
 Mr Alexander Adam, JAMES WATSON. 
 
 Student at Burgie, near Torres. 
 
 Overjoyed at what he justly deemed an interposition of Provi- 
 dence in his behalf, he left his native place and walked to Edin- 
 burgh. The kindness of Mr Watson was unceasing. He intro- 
 duced his young relative to Professors Stuart and Hunter, whose 
 classes he attended; procured for him private teaching; and 
 further, allowed him during winter to occupy his country house, 
 which stood where the barracks now are at Piershill. The young 
 student had moreover the advantage of dining at Mr Watson's 
 table, and of preparing his lessons under the superintendence of 
 the worthy minister of the Canongate till after tea, when he went 
 to Piershill. Shortly after this, while engaged as domestic tutor at 
 Carron Hall near Falkirk with his two earliest pupils (the late 
 Major-General Thomas Dundas, 1 and Charles Dundas, M.P.), 
 
 1 To General Dundas, who distinguished himself in the reduction ot
 
 58 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [APP. 
 
 his kind mentor addressed to him the subjoined letter of ad- 
 vice : 
 
 JOCK'S LODGE, 22d July 1758. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I arrived here yesternight, in better health than I 
 have had of late. The two enclosed letters were lying in my room, 
 how long I know not. I am glad that you are so agreeably situ- 
 ated ; exert yourself to profit the family in which you are, and 
 I am hopeful that will also please, and if you find yourself strait- 
 ened in any thing, let me know. 
 
 Take care of the company you keep, and of what you say ; 
 avoid all intimacy with servants, especially with females of all 
 sorts ; and fail not to implore the direction of Providence, which 
 is the only sure guide. I have not the honour of being acquaint- 
 ed with your family ; none want their enemies, and they may 
 have theirs : if you meet with any such, never join to speak evil, 
 less or more, of those at whose charge you live, for it is base. 
 Be too liberal in praise to none, lest you seem to flatter. 
 
 Forget not your own improvement, for now is the season ; 
 only, take care of your health ; neither apply all to your head, 
 but whilst it is enlightened, study to have the heart made better. 
 Apply to the Greek and Latin, and read books in order. It is 
 not to read much, but to understand well, that I would advise 
 you to apply. I have nothing further at present to write. I am 
 yours, &c. 
 
 To Mr Alexander Adam, JAMES WATSON. 
 
 Student at Quarole, near Falkirk. 
 
 About this period he applied himself closely to the study of the 
 Greek historians. In the spring of 1760 he gained, after a very 
 strict comparative trial, the situation of Master in George Watson's 
 Hospital, but being then so very young not quite nineteen he 
 was elected by the governors for half a year only. The boys of 
 that valuable institution had for some time been under slack 
 discipline, so that their new teacher had considerable difficulty 
 in bringing them into order ; but in a short time he succeeded 
 so effectually that his new wards became remarkable for their 
 good behaviour. Soon after his appointment to Watson's 
 
 the French West India Islands, and who died in June 179-1, Parliament 
 voted a monument in St Paul's Cathedral.
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 59 
 
 Hospital, his ever anxious friend addressed to him the following 
 letter : 
 
 BROUGHTON, 26th May 1760. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Though I may have frequent opportunities of 
 seeing you, I have thought proper to commit the following things 
 to writing, lest they should, if only told you, be forgotten. 
 
 My first advice is, that you study to cultivate a firm belief, 
 and a lively sense, of the being, the perfections, and the provi- 
 dence of God. This you learn from every object you behold ; 
 from every event that falls out ; and from many, if not all the 
 books you read : But above all, search for this sort of knowledge 
 in the sacred oracles. 
 
 Study, next, to know yourself. In this search it will be neces- 
 sary to look back to man's original ; to consider his present state ; 
 and to look forward to his future expectations and hopes : Espe- 
 cially study to know your own particular temper and disposition, 
 and the state of your soul with respect to God. How soon ever 
 we know God and ourselves, we must see the need we have of a 
 Saviour. 
 
 Let the Christian scheme of religion, therefore, much employ 
 your thoughts ; especially if you intend to enter into the minis- 
 try. The religion of Jesus can only be learned from Christ and 
 his Apostles, by the aid of his own Spirit ; and, except you feel 
 its power and efficacy, you will never be able to recommend it 
 properly to others. 
 
 The knowledge of men is no small acquirement, whether we 
 intend their welfare or our own. Much of this sort may be 
 learned from books ; and surely it is allowable to avail ourselves 
 of their observation and experience who have gone before us. 
 But since the manners of men do certainly vary with the climates 
 in which they live, and the periods of time wherein they appear, 
 we ought especially to observe the conduct of those with whom 
 we ourselves converse. 
 
 To throw several things together : Be assiduous in reading the 
 Holy Scriptures; be frequent in your addresses to God; ne- 
 glect none of the duties of your station ; cultivate a benevolent 
 disposition to all men ; and do good offices to as many as you 
 can, especially to the poor. Watch over your own heart ; shun 
 all temptations, especially bad company ; and always study to be
 
 60 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [API 1 . 
 
 distinguished rather for virtue and piety, than learning or know- 
 ledge, or any thing else. 
 
 With respect to your studies, beware of reading at random 
 whatever comes in your way. Plays, romances, and novels are a 
 good amusement, but let them never engross your time or thought. 
 What you have got of the languages and sciences be careful to 
 retain and improve, nor would I have you to meddle with any 
 more, at least for some time. For the English you may read 
 Young's Night Thoughts. For the Latin, your work in school 
 may be sufficient ; only, as one Class cannot stay upon one author 
 so long as to read the whole, cause the next Class read what 
 they have missed or left. Shun to read the same things in dif- 
 ferent Classes. Accustom yourself to the making of Latin. As 
 for the Greek, read Josephus and the New Testament. For 
 the French, read the Ancient History, as you proposed. Lose 
 not what you have of the Hebrew : as to books, you have no 
 choice in this article. 
 
 As to the sciences, you should read Locke over and over. Re- 
 view the books you have read in Mathematics. For Natural 
 Philosophy, you may read Derham's Physico -Theology ; and for 
 the Moral Philosophy, read Tillotson's Sermons. You propose 
 to prosecute the study of Divinity, and I would have you begin 
 with reading Bishop Wilkins' Principles. The most of these 
 books I can give you, and the rest may be found among your 
 acquaintances. 
 
 I don't mean, that you should carry on all these things at one 
 and the same time. You must take them by turns. You have 
 not so much time as others, and that you must make up for by 
 application and diligence. Always take care of your health: 
 for when that is gone, all is gone. When you have finished any 
 of the above books, I shall give my advice as to the next. Whilst 
 you prosecute this plan, or any other that shall appear better, 
 assure yourself of my best wishes and endeavours to promote 
 your interests. I am, dear Sir, yours, &c., 
 
 To Mr Alexander Adam, JAMES WATSON. 
 
 Student in Divinity, 
 Watson's Hospital, Edinburgh. 
 
 Mr Adam continued in the Hospital three years and a half, 
 during all that period pursuing the regular course of study
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 61 
 
 which his reverend friend had prescribed. The letters of Mr 
 Watson, which are now printed for the first time, were highly 
 prized and carefully preserved by him to whom they were origi- 
 nally addressed ; and I feel no ordinary pleasure in having it in 
 my power, through the kindness of their present possessor, to give 
 to them that publicity which they richly deserve. Following the 
 advice of so enlightened a counsellor, some future scholars will, I 
 fondly hope, be thereby stimulated to honourable exertion and 
 praiseworthy conduct, and, under the guidance of sound reli- 
 gious principle, successfully grapple with any difficulty which may 
 perchance occur, and like Mr Adam rise to the head of their 
 chosen profession, and become as he did respected and eminently 
 useful. From papers in the Rector's handwriting, evidently 
 not designed for the public eye, and still preserved by his family, 
 it appears that while Master of George Watson's Hospital 
 he was in the habit of rising early in the morning, and after 
 his devotional exercises, proceeding in a methodical way, read- 
 ing a chapter of the Greek Testament, along with Whitby's 
 Commentary, then a portion of the Hebrew Bible ; next books 
 relating to Theology, such as Wilkins' Principles of Natural 
 Religion, Lally's Proofs of Christianity, the whole of the older 
 Turretine's System of Divinity, &c. Besides, during the day 
 and in the evening when he had a spare hour, he read Latin 
 and French. He went through the whole works of Cicero in 
 Bleau's edition, marking down on small papers the difficult 
 phrases, and inserting in a book a translation of the most beauti- 
 ful passages. " I had," says he, " just finished the noble letter 
 of Brutus to Atticus concerning the mean compliance of Cicero, 
 before I went to hear the first Latin Oration of Principal Ro- 
 bertson, which he delivered in the Public Hall of the College be- 
 fore a crowded assembly, consisting of the magistrates, professors, 
 clergy, students, and others. The subject of the discourse was, 
 ' The Advantages to be derived from the Study of the Stoic 
 Philosophy.' My mind was in such a tone as to feel strongly the 
 force of what was said, and my ambition to excel in classical 
 learning was highly excited. 
 
 " Dr Robertson delivered another oration of this kind, but no 
 more ; as the other professors declined doing the same in their 
 turns, as formerly had been the practice. The Principal, tq
 
 62 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [APP. 
 
 gratify the English students, pronounced his oration in the Eng- 
 lish manner, which was generally disapproved of: he therefore 
 dropped it, and afterwards pronounced in the Scotch way." 
 
 In the year 1763 Mr Adam accepted the offer of Mr Kin- 
 caid, 1 then his Majesty's Printer for Scotland, and afterwards 
 Lord Provost of the city, to quit the Hospital and take charge 
 of his son. The advice of Mr Watson overcame his reluctance 
 to leave a public situation. " My chief inducement was," says 
 he, in his MS. Memoranda, " that I might have more time to 
 prosecute my own studies." " On the 1st October 1764," con- 
 tinues he, " my pupil entered the Rector's class, and next winter 
 Mr Matheson, being seized with a lingering ailment, was disabled 
 from teaching. About the beginning of April 1765,1 was solicited 
 to take charge of his class ; the person who till then taught it 
 having given it up." Suffice it to mention, that Mr Adam and 
 Mr Matheson were appointed Joint-Rectors of the Seminary June 
 8, 1768. In our THIRD CHAPTER full particulars are given of 
 this eminent and estimable man's connexion with the High 
 School, and likewise as to the acknowledged ability with which 
 for forty years and more he discharged his official duties, and 
 of the honour which he conferred on himself and the school 
 by his learned works. From the University of Edinburgh, on 
 the 9th August 1780, he received the degree of LL.D. Dr 
 Adam died December 18, 1809 ; and, as stated in another part 
 of this volume, his funeral was a public one. He was twice mar- 
 ried. The last of his three children by the first marriage, JAMES 
 ADAM, an officer in the naval service of the East India Company, 
 died at Heavytree near Exeter, only four days before the Rector. 
 A son and two daughters by the second marriage still survive. 
 
 In the Churchyard attached to St Cuthbert's Chapel of Ease, 
 where Dr Adam's remains were deposited, a handsome monument 
 
 1 Alexander Kincaid, Esq., became Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 
 1776, and died while in office. Dr Adam, who was on the most intimate 
 terms of friendship with that gentleman, used to mention, that the first 
 authentic information which Government obtained regarding the move- 
 ments of the Highland army in 1745, was from a letter which Mr Kin- 
 caid had addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury. When the situ- 
 ation of King's Printer for Scotland became vacant, Mr Kincaid was 
 the successful candidate, through the interest of the Archbishop.
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 63 
 
 was erected, upon which the subjoined epitaph, written by Dr 
 James Gregory of the University of Edinburgh, is inscribed : 
 
 Memorise Sacrvm 
 
 ALEXANDRI ADAM, LL.D ; 
 
 Florentissimse Schohe Regise Edinensis, 
 
 per annos XL et amplivs 
 
 Rectoris indefessi, meritissimi, 
 
 viri ingenio, doctrina, indvstria, insignis, 
 
 literarvm svavitate penitvs imbvti, 
 
 qvas ipse et praeceptis et exemplo, 
 
 mira felicitate 
 
 discipvlis svis commendavit. 
 
 Natus VIII Calendas IVLII MDCCXLI, 
 
 Obit XV Calendas lanvarii MDCCCX. 
 
 Modem die 
 
 qvo filivs eivs natv maximvs 
 efierebatvr. 
 
 In the year 1808, at the request of several gentlemen who had 
 been his pupils, Dr Adam sat to Mr (afterwards Sir Henry) Rae- 
 burn for his portrait, in order that it might be hung up in the School . 
 It was executed in an admirable manner ; and in the year following 
 was placed in the Library of the School, bearing this inscription : 
 " This Portrait of ALEXANDER ADAM, LL.D., Rector of the 
 High School from June 8, 1768, to December 18, 1809, Author 
 of Roman Antiquities, &c., was placed here as a mark of grati- 
 tude and respect by fourteen of his former pupils. A.D. 1810." 
 There it continued as a fitting ornament till it was removed to 
 the new School on the Calton-hill, when the original subscribers 
 commenced an action against the Magistrates of Edinburgh to 
 obtain back the picture. The Court of Session found, that al- 
 though the portrait was the property of the pursuers, it was to 
 be placed in the High School, and must remain there, in perpe- 
 tuam rei memoriam. The action was carried by appeal to the 
 House of Peers, and on the motion of Lord Chancellor Brougham 
 (July 16, 1832), the decision of the Court of Session was reversed. 
 Some time after this decision, during the preparations for the 
 festival given in honour of Earl Grey, the portrait was found to
 
 64 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [AI'P. 
 
 have been returned to the High School. Of this painting an ex- 
 cellent engraving by Turner has been published. 
 
 Writings of Dr Adam. 1. The Principles of Latin and Eng- 
 lish Grammar; designed to facilitate the study of both lan- 
 guages, by connecting them together. Edinb. 1772, 12mo. 
 This well-known elementary work, which met with very strong 
 opposition at its introduction, has had an extensive circulation in 
 Britain ; and it has been repeatedly printed at Boston and other 
 cities in the United States. The most correct Edinburgh edition 
 is that which was edited by Dr Pyper of St Andrews ; who men- 
 tions, that the copyright of this book was given to the Society of 
 Burgh and Parochial Schoolmasters of Scotland by Dr Walter 
 Adam, conformably to the often expressed wish of his father, that 
 it should serve as the commencement of a Series of School-books 
 to be published under the immediate inspection of the Society. 
 The premium received for each subsequent edition has been ap- 
 plied to the uses of the Fund for the Relief of the Widows and 
 Children of the Burgh and Parochial Schoolmasters of Scotland, 
 of which, as noticed in a former part of this volume, the vener- 
 able Rector had been a zealous promoter. 
 
 2. Roman Antiquities: or an Account of the Manners and 
 Customs of the Romans; designed to illustrate the Latin Classics. 
 Edinb. 1791, 8vo. 
 
 This, the most popular of Dr Adam's works, is extensively used 
 as a text-book not only in this country, but also in America, and 
 other places abroad. Dr James Boyd of the High School of 
 Edinburgh has, by his greatly improved and beautifully illustrat- 
 ed cheap edition of Dr Adam's Roman Antiquities, rendered an 
 essential service to the cause of classical learning. The Rev. J. 
 R. Major, Head-Master of King's College School, London, has 
 ably superintended an edition of this book. A German transla- 
 tion, with notes, by J. L. Meyer, appeared at Erlangen in 1806, 
 and again in 1818, 2 vols. 8vo. A French version, likewise in 2 
 vols. 8vo, was published at Paris in 1818. 
 
 3. Summary of Ancient Geography and History, pp. 900. 
 Edinb. 1794, 8vo. This elaborate work was first printed in 1784 
 for the use of the Rector's Class. 
 
 4. Classical Biography. Edinb. 1800, 8vo. 
 
 This work affords ample proofs of well-directed industry ; and,
 
 OF THE RECTORS. G5 
 
 in the number and unfailing accuracy of the references, furnishes 
 an excellent index to the best sources of information. 
 
 5. A Compendious Dictionary of the Latin Tongue. Edinb. 
 1805, 8vo. 
 
 A second edition of this abridgement of a larger work which he 
 contemplated, was edited by Mr Adam Dickenson in 1814. Of 
 this work we have given an account in CHAP. IV. 
 
 XXIV. JAMES PILLANS, M.A. 
 
 Francis Horner, who uniformly took a deep interest in the 
 prosperity of the school, exerted himself greatly in securing 
 the appointment of his attached classfellow at school and college. 
 On Christmas day 1809, he thus wrote to an influential Judge 
 in Edinburgh : " Forgive me for soliciting, with a very parti- 
 cular earnestness, your favour and interest in behalf of a friend 
 of mine, who offers himself as candidate for the place of Rector of 
 the High School, vacant by the death of Dr Adam. His name is 
 Pillans, a native of Edinburgh; his father being a printer there, 
 and I understand a very respectable man. He was tutor for some 
 time to young Mr Kennedy of Dunure, who is now an advocate at 
 your Bar. Pillans deserved and acquired great regard and per- 
 sonal confidence, while he was in that situation. He has since 
 been with a young English squire, in the North of England ; and 
 for the last few years has resided at Eton. From my acquaintance 
 with that family too, I know that Pillans has conducted himself 
 in such a manner as to have acquired their confidence and respect. 
 I add these testimonies to what I have known of him myself, 
 ever since we were at the High School together ; which enables 
 me to say, that I know no man more fully qualified, in every 
 respect, both as to learning and character, for this situation. I 
 hope you will not consider it as too much trouble to gratify me 
 by lending your assistance. In truth, you will thereby, I am 
 confident, confer an important benefit upon our native city ; Mr 
 Pillans is so fitted to maintain and increase the reputation of that 
 most excellent institution, the High School." In consequence of 
 similar representations from others highly competent to give an 
 opinion, Mr Pillans was unanimously elected Head-Master, Janu- 
 ary 24, 1810. The manner in which he performed his profes- 
 sional duties during the first year of his Rectorship, we have given 
 elsewhere from the pen of an enlightened scholar. That Mr
 
 66 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST. [AIT. 
 
 Pillans entered upon his labours with fear and trembling, though 
 with a determination to face and conquer every difficulty, appears 
 from the following account which, in December 1810, he gave in 
 a letter l to Mr Francis Horner : 
 
 " I am too well aware of the occupied life that you lead, to 
 expect from you frequent communications by letter, and I would 
 not now intrude on your time if I were not satisfied of the deep 
 interest you take in my fortunes, not merely from personal friend- 
 ship, but as connected with the prosperity of the school where 
 you were educated, and over which you were a very principal 
 means of placing me. All the letters I have hitherto written 
 you, since my being Rector, were penned under a dejection of 
 spirits amounting sometimes to despair, and arising, partly from 
 the untoward class I succeeded to, and partly from a diffidence in 
 my own powers of public teaching. These feelings have been 
 gradually giving way, during the last two months, to more cheer- 
 ing prospects. While I was appalled by the difficulties that 
 surrounded me, destitute as I was of experience, I had no idea of 
 the mighty influence of habit in removing them, and of practice 
 in generating faculties fitted for the occasion. The class I re- 
 ceived in October, which I had been led to expect would be very 
 troublesome, has turned out tolerably tractable and docile, and 
 contains so many boys of good dispositions and fair talents, that 
 I begin to be alive to the pleasure of teaching. I am delighted 
 to feel this. I am catching that enthusiasm, which in teaching 
 goes far to supply the deficiency of genius ; and without which, 
 genius is unavailing. My whole faculties are devoted to the 
 consideration of the means by which the greater quantity of in- 
 tellectual exertion and improvement may be secured in a class 
 of 150 boys. I am aware of the danger of dashing too precipi- 
 tately into new schemes, and think it better to do the old well 
 than, by attempting the new prematurely, to fail in both. At 
 the same time, there are so many boys with me now for whom I 
 feel interest and affection, that I cannot resist the temptation of 
 doing all that I can. Accordingly, I have begun the English 
 
 1 To Leonard Horner, Esq. of Rivermede, Middlesex, I have grate- 
 fully to acknowledge my obligations for having transmitted to me the 
 original letter referred to, as well as various other papers which be- 
 longed to his eminent brother.
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 67 
 
 mode of reading Latin occasionally, and think I shall venture on 
 a little verse-making in the course of the winter. These, with 
 occasional exercises in Latin and English composition, somewhat 
 of the nature of English school themes, will probably be enough 
 of novelty for one year. I long dreaded the idea of introducing 
 verses, from a consciousness of my own imperfect and scanty 
 knowledge of the art : but I am now convinced that I have ele- 
 ments enough to begin with, and that the surest way to improve 
 farther, is to teach it to others. As I must begin with the com- 
 mon measure so common in England, of Hexameters and Pent- 
 ameters, I shall be under the necessity of printing off a few Ex- 
 cerpta from Ovid's Epistles and Fasti, as there is at present no 
 provision in the High School for making a boy read a single 
 Pentameter verse in all his five or six years course, except it 
 be in one or two of Buchanan's Psalms. 
 
 " I have this year the most numerous Greek and Ancient Geo- 
 graphy class that ever perhaps entered at the Rector's class. It 
 amounts to within one or two of a hundred : and I hope to turn 
 out one or two tolerable scholars before the end of the year. If 
 you could find time to write me a few lines on these or any other 
 topics, you know well how much I should value them ; but 
 whether you do or not, I shall not cease to be satisfied of your 
 friendship and good wishes, and to be convinced that there is 
 none who will hear of the change in my feelings and prospects 
 with greater pleasure than yourself." 
 
 Reference has already been made to an account of the Rector's 
 Class, drawn up by a distinguished scholar, who gained the highest 
 honours of the school in 1 8 1 1 . That document, with a similar one, 
 written by an equally distinguished pupil, who was dux nine years 
 afterwards, will be found to convey an accurate view of Mr 
 Pillans's mode of teaching both at the commencement and the 
 close of his very able rectorship. To these papers, and other 
 illustrative matter, printed in CHAP. IV., the reader is referred. 
 The death of Mr Christison, in June 1820, having occasioned a va- 
 cancy in the Humanity Chair, the Patrons unanimously conferred 
 the appointment on Mr Pillans. Of the able manner in which 
 he continues to discharge his important duties in that higher 
 sphere of professional labour, it is not for me but for the future 
 historian of the University to speak. A few months after he
 
 68 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [AIT. 
 
 left the High School, a number of those who had studied under 
 him there, obtained his consent to sit to Raeburn. The portrait, 
 one of the best that celebrated artist ever produced, now adorns 
 the Hall of the School, with this inscription : 
 
 " JACOBO PILLANS, Scholse Regiae Edinensis per undecim in- 
 signes annos Rectori, hoc caritatis monumentum vivo posuerunt 
 Discipuli. A.D. MDCCCXX." Turner's engraving of this 
 painting is strikingly faithful. 
 
 Writings of Mr Pillans. 1. Principles of Elementary Teach- 
 ing, chiefly in reference to the Parochial Schools of Scotland : in 
 Two Letters to [his first pupil] T. F. Kennedy, Esq., M.P. 
 12mo. Edinb. 1828. 2d edit. 1829. 
 
 2. Three Lectures on the Proper Objects and Methods of 
 Education in reference to the different Orders of Society ; and 
 on the relative utility of Classical Instruction. 8vo. ib. 1836. 
 
 3. Outlines of Geography, principally Ancient ; with Introduc- 
 tory Observations on the System of the World, and on the best 
 manner of teaching Geography. 12mo. ib. 1847. These "Out- 
 lines" had been repeatedly printed, but were notpublished till 1847. 
 
 4. Eclogse Curtianse : containing the Third, Fourth, and Fifth 
 Books, with Extracts from the remaining Five, of Quintus Cur- 
 tius Rufus de Gestis Alexandri Magni ; to which are added, an 
 English Supplement to the lost Books, and a Map of Alexander's 
 March ; with a Discourse on the Latin Authors read, and the 
 order of reading them, in the earlier stages of Classical Disci- 
 pline. 18mo. Edinb. 1847. 
 
 5. Eclogfe Ciceronian : A Selection from the Orations, Epis- 
 tles, and Philosophical Dialogues of Cicero ; to which are added. 
 Selected Letters of Pliny the younger. With a Copious Preface. 
 18mo. ib. 1846. 
 
 6. Excerpta ex Taciti Annalibus, with a Prefatory Notice. 
 12mo. Lond. 1848. 
 
 7. A Word for the Universities of Scotland ; and a Plea for the 
 Humanity Classes in the College of Edinburgh. 8vo. Edinb. 1848. 
 
 In addition to the above, and to others mentioned in the text, Mr 
 Pillans has contributed several articles to the Edinburgh Review, 
 chiefly on Education ; to the Encyclopaedia Britannica ; a Speech 
 on Irish Education, in 1832 ; and Evidence printed in theReport of 
 the Committee of the House of Commons on Education, in 1834.
 
 NO. VI.] OP THE RECTORS. 69 
 
 XXV. AoLiONBY-Ross CARSON, M. A., LL.D. He is a native 
 of Holywood in Dumfries-shire, and received the elements of his 
 classical education in the endowed school of Wallace-hall in the 
 neighbouring parish of Closeburn. l That celebrated seminary was 
 then ably taught by Dr Alexander Mundell, to whose son and suc- 
 cessor Mr Carson subsequently acted as assistant for two years. In 
 1797 Mr Carson entered the University of Edinburgh. From May 
 1799 till October 1800 he was employed by Mr John Taylor, of the 
 Grammar School of Musselburgh, as his assistant. In addition to 
 a numerously attended day-school, Mr Taylor had nearly eighty 
 boarders. As domestic tutor, Mr Carson accompanied one of the 
 boarders a son of General Macleod of Macleod to Edinburgh, 
 and entered his pupil at the University, while he himself attended 
 the Divinity Hall, of which he had been enrolled a student in No- 
 vember 1799. The Grammar school of Dumfries having become 
 vacant by the removal of Mr Gray to Edinburgh, Mr Carson was 
 unanimously elected as his successor, October 15, 1801. In little 
 more than four years, however, in consequence of Mr Christison's 
 promotion to the Chair of Humanity in the metropolis, he ob- 
 tained, in January 1806, a Mastership in the High School. In 
 this field he laboured most assiduously and successfully. The 
 
 1 In the year 1723, John Wallace, who had been a prosperous mer- 
 chant in Glasgow, bequeathed the sum of L.1600, to endow a school in 
 Closeburn, his native parish. Conformably to the deed of settlement, 
 the greater part of the money was invested in land, and the remainder 
 was devoted to the erection of a school and dwelling-house for the rector, 
 and the purchase of a contiguous field of five acres. The management 
 of the fund was entrusted to the Presbytery of Penpont, who were em- 
 powered to watch over the interests of the seminary, and to judge of the 
 qualifications of the rector and his assistant. The children of the parish 
 are entitled to be taught, free of expense, English, writing, arithmetic, 
 book-keeping, Greek, and Latin. The salary of the rector is now up- 
 wards of L.350. (New Statistical Account of Dumfries-shire, pp. 88, 89.) 
 Wallace-hall so called from its generous founder has been noted for 
 its distinguished teachers and pupils. Among the latter may be enu- 
 merated the late Dr John Hunter of St Andrew's, the eminent philolo- 
 gist, Professor Thomas Gillespie, also of St Andrew's, and the Rev. Dr 
 Thomas Brown of Glasgow. 
 
 The School is at present under the able superintendence of C. T. 
 Ramage, Esq.
 
 70 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [APP. 
 
 class that attended him from 1815 to 1819 consisted of 202 
 pupils ; and in the session commencing in the autumn of the latter 
 year, of 193. When Mr Pillans vacated the Rector's Chair, in 
 consequence of having succeeded Professor Christison in the Uni- 
 versity, the Patrons did themselves honour by placing Mr Carson 
 at the head of the school. His appointment took place, August 
 30, 1820. He had, three months prior to that date, declined ac- 
 ceptance of the Greek Professorship in the University of St An- 
 drews, to which, though not a candidate, he had been elected. 
 That University, in 1826, conferred on him the degree of LL.D. 
 
 As Dr Carson's address, delivered in 1829, at the opening of 
 the school, was greatly admired, a copy of the same, corrected by 
 himself, is appended to this biographical sketch. 
 
 At the public examination in 1833, an admirable half length 
 picture of the Rector, painted by Mr Watson Gordon, subscribed 
 for by several of the late pupils of Dr Carson, was presented by 
 one of their number, Dr Balfour, who stated, that the Town 
 Council had guaranteed to Dr Carson and his heirs, that it 
 should remain in the Hall of the School. It bears this super- 
 scription : 
 
 " In honorem A. R. CARSON, LL.D., qui morum integritate, 
 vitse constantia, mira eruditione insignis, Scholam Regiam Edin- 
 ensem Rector illustrat, hanc tabulam pingendam curavere Disci- 
 puli grati MDCCCXXXIII." 
 
 When Dr Carson, on the 9th October 1845, found it necessary, 
 on account of the precarious state of his health, to tender his re- 
 signation into the hands of the Patrons, the announcement occa- 
 sioned general regret. The Magistrates and Council testified 
 their appreciation of his long services, by settling upon Dr Car- 
 son an annuity for life of L.100. At a meeting of his colleagues, 
 held on the 18th October 1845, the following Resolutions, most 
 creditable to all parties, were unanimously adopted : 
 
 " 1. That Dr Carson's resignation threatens a severe blow to 
 the prosperity of the High School. For nearly forty years he 
 was connected with this Institution, as a Master and as Rector. 
 While a Master, he enriched the annals of critical literature 
 with many papers of recognized merit, for their acumen, pro- 
 fundity, and felicity of expression. His treatise on the Latin 
 Relative is one of the most masterly productions ever penned on
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 71 
 
 a grammatical subject, distinguished for originality, for deep in- 
 sight into the philosophy of language, as a vehicle of thought 
 for furnishing an instrument to distinguish the most subtle 
 shades of difference in speech, for laborious research and for tri- 
 umphant illustration. As Rector, which office he enjoyed for 
 twenty-five years, his learning, and admirable skill in imparting 
 knowledge, rendered him the pride and the support of the School. 
 The following proof may be given of the estimation in which he 
 was held. He was popular beyond all others as a Master, the 
 last Class formed by him having been the largest ever assembled 
 within the walls of the High School. He convened large Classes 
 as Rector, till circumstances acting injuriously on the general 
 numerical prosperity of the School, diminished his numbers also. 
 Even thereafter, he succeeded in sustaining, among all classes of 
 the community, the high reputation of the Institution, when 
 it was exposed to the most severe assaults. His name was a 
 tower of strength. The most sanguine hope that can be formed 
 for the future, cannot reach the attaining of his equal in all the 
 requirements of his high office. 
 
 " 2. The resignation of Dr Carson is more particularly distress- 
 ing to the Masters, from their peculiar connexion with him. To 
 the public he was known for his learning, and his unobtrusive 
 worth to the pupils, for his rare powers of instruction, his play- 
 fulness of manner, even in matters of discipline, and the order 
 which he maintained by the gentlest means. But to the Mas- 
 ters over whose meetings he presided, he was still further en- 
 deared by the unbending rectitude of his views, the urbanity of 
 his manners, and the singleness of purpose with which he entered 
 into every project that seemed likely to contribute to the welfare 
 of the Institution of which he was the distinguished head. Dif- 
 ference of opinion there sometimes was; but no Master ever 
 doubted that Dr Carson had, in public and in private, in the 
 Class and in his study, but one sole view the advancement of 
 the interests of the High School. For this, when he became 
 Rector, he abandoned all his well-founded hopes of literary emi- 
 nence, that he might with undistracted attention pursue the 
 studies pertaining to his class ; for this he refused a higher status 
 and comparative ease, as Professor of Greek in the University 
 of Saint Andrews an office offered him without solicitation
 
 72 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [AIT. 
 
 when he was only a Master in the School and to this his 
 whole life was manifestly devoted. On public and on private 
 grounds, therefore, connected alike with their own interests, as 
 bound up in the general prosperity, and with the harmony, com- 
 fort, and prudent dealing of their joint deliberations, the Masters 
 have deeply to deplore the withdrawal of the prudence, wisdom, 
 kindness, and dignity, which parentally directed their counsels. 
 
 "3. The Masters, acquiescing in the painful necessity which 
 has led to this resignation, sympathize deeply with Dr Carson, 
 and earnestly pray that he may be long spared to enjoy a green 
 old age, happy in his family and his hopes of eternity, recruit- 
 ing himself with such literary exertion as may benefit the world 
 and be not injurious to his own strength, and bearing with him 
 the blessing of many a useful man, rendered useful through his 
 instructions, the regretful applause of the community, and the 
 heartfelt affection of those who, once his colleagues, shall ever 
 be proud of being remembered among his friends. 
 
 " 4. That Dr Boyd be instructed, in the name of the Masters, 
 to sign and forward these resolutions to Dr Carson and to the 
 Patrons. (Signed) " JAMES BOYD, Senior Master." 
 
 Writings of Dr Carson. He has edited Phsedrus, Mair's In- 
 troduction, and Turner's Grammatical Exercises, and particularly 
 an edition of Tacitus, all of which, especially the last, are highly 
 valued. Of the excellence of his work, entitled " Rules for the 
 Construction of the Relative Qui, Quee, Quod, established by a 
 copious selection of examples from Classical Authors," we 
 have elsewhere given Dr Parr's exceedingly flattering opinion. 1 
 Dr Carson printed, but, it is to be regretted, never published, 
 " Exercises in Attic Greek, for the use of the High School of 
 Edinburgh." He likewise contributed to the Classical Journal, 
 the Scottish Review, and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 
 
 1 See CHAP. IV. SAMUEL PABB, LL.D., was one of the most learned 
 Classical Scholars of the age in which he lived (B. 1747. D. 1825.) In 
 his Correspondence (Parr's Works, vol. viii. pp. 533-554), it will be seen 
 what a deep interest he took in the High School of Edinburgh. Even 
 in his last Will, he directs that rings be forwarded to Edinburgh to 
 Mr Pillans, and his colleague, the author of the Treatise on the Rela- 
 tive. Dr Parr says, on naming Dr Carson, that his " grammatical work 
 ought to be taught in the higher classes of every school."
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE HECTORS. 73 
 
 Speech of Dr CAKSON, at the Opening of the High School, June 
 23, 1829. 
 
 MY LOUD PROVOST, I congratulate your Lordship, the Magis- 
 tracy, and the Citizens of Edinburgh, on the consummation of the 
 great work that has so long engrossed your anxious thoughts. The 
 rapid extension of this metropolis, the increasing taste for classical 
 learning, and the consequent necessity of finding more ample 
 accommodation for the numerous pupils who crowded the apart- 
 ments of that edifice which we have just left, had for many years 
 convinced those who take an interest in this ancient establish- 
 ment, that some change was necessary, and could not, consistently 
 with a due regard to the public good, be long delayed. It was 
 seen that its situation was too remote for that portion of the 
 population which formed its chief support, that its apartments 
 were ill fitted for carrying into effect such improvements in the 
 art of teaching as experience recommended and sound judgment 
 approved, that it ought to be removed from the bustle and tumult 
 of a town, and placed where those youthful spirits, in whom all 
 feel so intense an interest, might pursue their studies in a health- 
 ful, enlivening, and invigorating atmosphere, undisturbed by the 
 busy multitudes engaged hi active life. Amid the various 
 changes which this city has of late years undergone, the classical, 
 consecrated spot on which we are now assembled, had fortunately 
 been reserved untouched, the noblest and the fittest for the pur- 
 pose to which it has been devoted, that this or any city could 
 command. It is not easy to determine whether we should admire 
 more the judgment of those enlightened patrons of literature, 
 who selected for this superb temple the magnificent, yet most 
 convenient spot on which it has been reared, or the discriminat- 
 ing taste that led them to employ the highly gifted artist, who 
 has conceived a plan so unequalled in elegance and beauty, who 
 has overcome and turned to his advantage difficulties that must 
 have appalled and overwhelmed men of ordinary genius, and who 
 has brought to its completion a structure the most beautiful and 
 the most perfectly adapted to its purpose of which Europe can at 
 this moment boast. But in vain had our distinguished architect 
 possessed talents that recal the glories of the age of Pericles, if
 
 74 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [APP. 
 
 the lofty spirit had been wanting, which has prompted the illus- 
 trious patrons of this institution to consecrate to the rising genius 
 of their native land a fabric so noble and so costly. To their 
 munificence, indeed, aided by the free-will offerings of their fel- 
 low-citizens, and the bounty of a Sovereign, the pride of his 
 country and the glory of his age, modern times afford us no 
 parallel in similar circumstances. The sums expended in rearing 
 this edifice have not been ostentatiously furnished from that 
 hoarded wealth which its possessor was not longer able to enjoy. 
 They are not the overflowings of opulence, bequeathed by selfish- 
 ness to posthumous notoriety, they are a voluntary testimony, 
 borne by an intelligent Magistracy to the value of classical learn- 
 ing and the general improvement of the human mind ; they are 
 a proud and grateful acknowledgment of those important services 
 which this school has rendered to our country, to literature, and 
 to society. To the great body of this community there are few 
 subjects of weightier concernment, or more deeply interesting, 
 than the right adaptation of this establishment to its proposed 
 end. The health, the happiness, the mental and moral improve- 
 ment of our country's rising hopes, are unspeakably important. 
 To what laborious exertions is the parent not willing to submit 
 what convenience is he not ready to forego, that his child may 
 be blessed with comfort, may not have to contend with difficul- 
 ties, may not encounter dangers ? What, then, must be the 
 amount of his debt of gratitude, how vast his sense of obligation, 
 to the liberal patrons of this school, who have so amply, so un- 
 sparingly provided for the wants, and wishes, and best interests of 
 those who are dearest to his heart ? 
 
 But, splendid as this edifice is, the triumph of architecture, and 
 the lasting monument of our city's liberality, there still remain 
 to be attained for it decorations of a higher order than the chisel 
 can bestow, or wealth can purchase ; those imperishable orna- 
 ments that, taking their origin from the mind, and participating 
 of the perpetuity of its existence, outlive the beauty that art be- 
 stows upon material things, and become the heritage of the 
 human species. The Porch, the Lyceum, the Academic Grove, 
 trained to lofty thoughts and noble sentiments those ancients 
 whom we admire and revere in these they were taught to think 
 correctly, to write elegantly, to guide the opinions of millions un-
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE KECTORS. 75 
 
 born, to influence the sentiments and destinies of nations of 
 which they never heard. These schools of ancient philosophy 
 have ceased to be frequented they have long since ceased to 
 exist but the unfading sunshine of their glory still continues to 
 irradiate the minds of men with a strong and steady light. The 
 throne of Philip, his fleets, and his armies, have perished but the 
 vehement eloquence of Demosthenes still glows in all the living 
 charms of an immortal youth ; the sword of his son that con- 
 quered, and the sceptre that ruled unnumbered kingdoms have 
 passed away that Pella where first he beheld the light, the 
 mighty Babylon, where prostrate nations owned his power, have 
 fulfilled their destiny and ceased to be but he 
 
 " Who bred great Alexander to subdue the world," 
 
 still continues to instruct the critic, the metaphysician, the na- 
 turalist, the statesman, still survives in his immortal page, still 
 astonishes alike by the profundity and by the comprehensiveness 
 of his gigantic mind ; the unparalled magnificence with which the 
 Goddess of Wisdom embellished her favourite seat, can be but 
 faintly gathered from its shattered fragments ; but her Plato is 
 still the admiration and delight of nations and of ages the most 
 remote from those in which he flourished, and philosophised, and 
 taught. The massive Doric of the Parthenon may crumble into 
 dust, the Acropolis itself may disappear; but the grace and beauty 
 of that Corinthian column, which rose in the " Olive grove of 
 Academe," will, while men dwell upon the earth and continue to 
 be civilized, neither know diminution nor experience decay. 
 This structure, now so fair and so imposing, may, like all the 
 other works of mortal hands, moulder, sink hi the dust, and, 
 
 " Like the baseless fabric of a vision, 
 Leave not a wreck behind ;" 
 
 but the triumphs of learning are immortal, the wreaths which 
 she bestows are unfading, the conqueror under her banners 
 lives in the grateful remembrance of his species, and remotest 
 countries and latest generations reap the fruits of the vic- 
 tories which he has won. To you, my young friends, and 
 to those who shall succeed you, is assigned the important 
 task of bestowing upon this edifice a beauty more transcen- 
 dant and durable than the ornamented frieze or sculptured
 
 76 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [API*. 
 
 pediment, the most graceful column or richest entablature, are 
 able to impart. Ages have passed away since the Muses forsook 
 the long-favoured shores of the ./Egean : and if they have sought 
 shelter in the less genial climes of the north, if they have pre- 
 ferred the banks of the Thames and the Tweed to Castalia and 
 Hippocrene, it is your duty to welcome, to reverence the be- 
 nignant visitants, and to devote yourselves with enthusiastic 
 ardour to their service. What, under Providence, has raised 
 your country to the enviable and envied height of glory which 
 she has attained ? It is not to the thunder of her fleets, nor to 
 the might of her armies, that she is chiefly indebted for the ac- 
 knowledged superiority which has gained for her the admiration 
 of the world ; it is that high moral culture which nought but 
 education can bestow, the widely diflrised intelligence that per- 
 vades every order of her people, the majesty of mind cultivated 
 and sustained by learning, that have earned for her the unri- 
 valled renown of which she is so justly proud. It is your dis- 
 tinction that you are her sons, and, as heirs of the glory 
 which the name conveys, you are bound to extend and to per- 
 petuate that honourable fame which every Briton inherits as his 
 birth-right. You are Scotsmen, and as such are called on by 
 every manly and patriotic consideration to transmit unimpaired 
 to the generations that shall succeed you, the rich inheritance of 
 literary and scientific fame which your fathers have bequeathed 
 you. Yours is the country that gave birth to a Robertson, a 
 Blair, a Hume, a Ferguson, a Reid, a Smith, a Stewart ; and 
 when these, and other admired geniuses of former days are re- 
 called to your memory, let their honoured names fire your ambi- 
 tion, and animate you to the most strenuous exertions in a similar 
 career of glory. These have won for their country and for them- 
 selves an imperishable name ; yet pre-eminently distinguished as 
 they are, despair not, my young friends, of rivalling their fame ; 
 despair not of adding new names to the ample catalogue of our 
 national authors and our learned men. Your country's hopes, 
 the hopes of those who love you, and of those whom you love, 
 will, I am well assured, be fully realized ; your devotion to study, 
 and the pleasure your youthful minds manifestly take in ancient 
 learning, are the faithful harbingers of your future fame. You 
 will not, I am confident, suffer yourselves to be outdone by thos^
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 77 
 
 who but lately left the places which you now occupy, and who 
 are already exploring the depths of literature and science, ex- 
 tending the boundaries of our discoveries in the worlds of matter 
 and of mind, and in every department of exalted and useful in- 
 quiry, adding to the sum of human knowledge and of human 
 power. The time is not far distant when you too will contribute 
 your aid to the extension of that glory, which its pupils have for 
 more than three centuries reflected upon this venerable semi- 
 nary; and when you enter upon the dutits of active life, you 
 will evince by your virtues and by your talents, that you will not 
 lightly reflect discredit upon your education, or on the honoured 
 establishment of which you are the alumni. You will now en- 
 joy advantages to which your predecessors were strangers, and it 
 will be your duty it ought to be your delight to approve your- 
 selves worthy of the care and expense that have been bestowed 
 upon your comfortable and splendid accommodation. On the 
 noble terrace that surrounds this edifice, you will have an ample 
 field for healthful recreation; the apartments you are now to 
 occupy are commodious, spacious, and magnificent, beyond what 
 your fathers ever thought of, or your native land ever before 
 possessed ; and if the benefit which this school has long conferred 
 upon our country be confessedly great, what may we not antici- 
 pate from the increased means of improvement which our liberal 
 and munificent patrons have so generously placed within your 
 reach ! 
 
 Of myself and of my colleagues it may be unwise to speak to 
 do so in the boastful language of high promise, might justly be 
 deemed presumptuous. Were we unknown to the citizens of 
 Edinburgh, were we strangers entering for the first time upon 
 a career of arduous duty, we might perhaps be pardoned if we 
 spoke somewhat slightingly of all that has been achieved, before 
 we appeared upon the arena of trial and of conflict if we 
 boasted of triumphs to be won, and trophies to be erected ; but 
 we cannot have recourse to such means of influencing public 
 opinion, or gaining public favour. All of us have been for years 
 engaged in the duties of that sphere of action in which we are 
 still to move, and in the discharge of these duties some of us 
 have seen the best of our chequered days pass away, days 
 gilded by the brightest sunshine of public favour, or darkened
 
 78 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [ATI'. 
 
 by the evils incident to our mortal condition, and inseparable 
 from humanity. But if the discipline which the alternations of 
 good and evil, of prosperity and adversity apply to the mind, be 
 designed by the -wisdom of Omniscience to improve our nature, 
 mature our judgment, heighten our sense of the importance of 
 our duty, and qualify us better to perform what is expected of 
 us, we may cherish the hope that our endeavours will, with the 
 blessing of Heaven, still continue to receive the countenance and 
 approbation of our patrons and of the public ; and that, while we 
 instruct the son in those studies by which we formed the mind 
 of the sire, the bond that unites us to our fellow-citizens will be 
 doubled in strength, and hallowed by the vivid glow of an 
 awakened affection. 
 
 The system of education pursued in this school, and the effects 
 it has produced, are too well and too generally known to need 
 explanation or require panegyric. The High School of Edin- 
 burgh is unfettered by those arbitrary restrictions to which many 
 establishments of a similar description have been subjected by 
 their founders, restrictions which, though accommodated to the 
 peculiar circumstances in which they were designed to operate, 
 discourage the adoption of such improvements in the art of 
 teaching as the general sense of a more enlightened age approves 
 and recommends. Of this freedom in its constitution, the High 
 School will, I trust, continue to make, as it has hitherto done, a 
 liberal, but, at the same time, a prudent and cautious use. The 
 efficiency of our present system is undeniable ; while the result 
 of any new experiment would certainly be problematical, and 
 might be hazardous; let us be careful, then, neither to adopt 
 rashly every suggested alteration, nor reject contemptuously 
 such improvements in the art of teaching as experience may 
 show to be substantial and really valuable. 
 
 May the Former of the human mind, the bounteous Author of 
 those exalted faculties which it is our province to direct and 
 cultivate, crown our endeavours with his heavenly blessing ; and 
 may the utility of this institution be as permanent and durable 
 as the immoveable and solid rock on which the foundations of 
 this noble edifice have been so firmly based ! 
 
 XXVI. LEONHARD SCHMITZ, PH. D. As this gentleman is 
 the first foreigner who has held a classical mastership in the
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 79 
 
 High School, and as a scholar and an author he enjoys a high 
 reputation not only in Britain but on the continent, a brief ac- 
 count of his life and writings may not be unacceptable. Dr 
 Schmitz was born March 6, 1807, at Eupen, a village near Aix- 
 la-Chapelle, in the Rhenish province of Prussia. His parents 
 removed, in 1813, to Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1819 he met with a 
 serious accident one morning in January, when amusing himself 
 with a schoolfellow near a newly erected steam-engine. His 
 companion, in a frolic on parting, knocked off his cap. It alight- 
 ed among the machinery, and when attempting to recover it, by 
 putting his hand between the spokes of a wheel, the engine was 
 set agoing and mutilated the right arm so fearfully, that ampu- 
 tation was found necessary ; and for a time his life was despaired 
 of. As the pursuits to which young Schmitz could devote himself, 
 after recovering from this accident, were limited, his mother 
 resolved, at any cost, to procure for her son a liberal education ; 
 and he, who had always been passionately fond of reading, re- 
 joiced so much at this that he almost felt glad at the loss of his 
 arm, because it at once decided that he should be allowed to 
 study for one of the learned professions. In the autumn of 1820, 
 accordingly, he entered the Royal Gymnasium or High School of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, to prepare for the University of Bonn, which he 
 attended for philology, history, and philosophy, from 1828 to 
 1831. At that seat of learning he studied under the illustrious 
 Niebuhr, Welcker, Brandis, and other eminent professors. On com- 
 pleting his academical career, he passed through the ordeal of ex- 
 amination as a teacher in the Royal Gymnasia of Prussia, and was 
 declared competent to superintend all the classes of a gymnasium. 
 Every candidate for such an office in Prussia has to teach as a 
 probationer gratuitously in a gymnasium for one year, and he 
 accordingly undertook to give instructions in Greek, Latin, Ger- 
 man, and Drawing, 1 in the two highest classes of the gymnasium 
 at Bonn, attended by at least fifty youths, most of whom were 
 about sixteen years of age. At the end of the year he had the 
 
 1 The Minister of Instruction in Prussia at that time, recommended 
 to every philologer who had any talent for drawing, to cultivate it, that 
 it might not be necessary to appoint separate drawing-masters, who, in 
 Prussia, are usually uneducated persons, and often become a laughing- 
 stock to the boys.
 
 80 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST [ATI'. 
 
 gratification of receiving a deputation from both classes, to signify 
 that they had acquired in twelve months more than they usually 
 learned in two years under their ordinary masters. 
 
 Persons desirous to engage in the higher departments of edu- 
 cation in Prussia, have a preparatory training of at least eleven 
 years ; and he went regularly through that course, with the view 
 of devoting his life to the instruction of youth. 
 
 After the lapse of a year, he left the gymnasium, his time 
 being fully engaged in private tuition. 
 
 In the month of December 1834, he abandoned Roman Ca- 
 tholicism, the religion in which he had been born and brought up, 
 and in the presence of the Protestant clergyman of Bonn, and 
 of the principal authorities of the University, he embraced the 
 Protestant faith. He had long and seriously contemplated this 
 important step, but no favourable opportunity had previously 
 occurred. In the following year he married an English lady ; 
 and the climate of Bonn not agreeing with her, he accepted the 
 offer of a tutorship in an English family resident in Yorkshire. 
 During the three years which he spent there, and till he went 
 to London, he made himself familiar with the English language 
 and literature, by a course of extensive reading and study. 
 Shortly after his arrival in Britain, he joined the Church of 
 England, of which he is still a member. His detestation of what 
 is called German Neology, he has expressed in the Penny Cyclo- 
 paedia, article Rationalism, and in Smith's Dictionary of Greek 
 and Roman Biography, article Euhemerus. 
 
 In 1842 the University of Bonn conferred upon him the de- 
 gree of Doctor in Philosophy. 
 
 For some time Dr Schmitz was Classical Examiner of the 
 Theological Students attending the Countess of Huntingdon's 
 College at Cheshunt in Herts. His friend, the present Bishop 
 Thirlwall, strongly dissuaded him from engaging in tuition, un- 
 less it were in some great public establishment. Regarding his 
 lordship's advice exceedingly judicious, he followed it. Twice 
 was he invited to become a teacher in the school connected with 
 University College, London ; but declined the offer each time, 
 not feeling inclined to accept of any subordinate office. 
 
 When Dr Schmitz presented himself as a candidate for the 
 situation which he now holds in the High School, his principal
 
 NO. VI.] OF THE RECTORS. 81 
 
 avocations in London were of a literary kind, principally in the 
 composition of those useful works which have made his name so 
 honourably and extensively known. He became Dr Carson's 
 successor, December 16, 1845. 
 
 Writings of Dr Schmitz. 1. An English translation of Dr 
 Wiggers' Life of Socrates. Lond. 1840, 8vo. 
 
 2. An English translation of the Third volume of Niebuhr's 
 History of Rome, executed in conjunction with Dr William 
 Smith. Ibid. 1842, 8vo. 
 
 3. A continuation of Niebuhr's History of Rome, from the 
 first Punic War to the death of Constantine. Ibid. 3 vols. 8vo. 
 
 The work is based upon the notes taken by Dr Schmitz in 
 Niebuhr's Lecture Room in the University of Bonn. The third 
 volume contains the History of Rome from the earliest times 
 down to the first Punic War. In 1844, the King of Prussia, 
 to whom this work was dedicated, directed the Chevalier Bun- 
 sen, 1 the Prussian Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary at the 
 British Court, to forward to Dr Schmitz the great gold medal 
 for literature, " as a mark of his Majesty's sense of the honour 
 thereby conferred upon the memory of Niebuhr, one of the great- 
 est scholars of Germany." 
 
 4. An English translation of the Grammar of the Latin Lan- 
 guage, by Dr C. G. Zumpt, Professor of Ancient Literature in 
 the University of Berlin, and Knight of the Order of the Red 
 Eagle. Ibid. 1845 ; second edition 1847, 8vo. 
 
 5. An abridgement of the preceding Grammar, for the use of 
 the High School of Edinburgh. Ibid. 1846, 12mo. 
 
 6. The Classical Museum. Ibid. 1843-48. This periodical, 
 of which five volumes are already published, is devoted to the 
 elucidation of Classical literature. It was projected in 1842 by 
 Dr Schmitz, who has been editor since its commencement, sup- 
 ported by the most eminent British and Continental scholars. 
 
 7. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. 
 Ibid. 1842, 8vo; second edition, Ibid. 1848. Nearly one fourth 
 of this work was written by Dr Schmitz ; his leading articles are 
 
 1 The estimation in which the instructors of youth are held in Prussia 
 is signally and honourably shown by the highly deserved promotion of 
 Chevalier Bunsen, who was at one time a teacher.
 
 82 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 those on the Greek Festivals, the Roman and Athenian Con- 
 stitutions, &c. All the articles bear his initials (L. S.) 
 
 8. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and 
 Mythology. Lond. 1844, &c., 8vo. For this work, still in 
 course of publication, Dr Schmitz has furnished the Mythology 
 of Greece and Rome; the articles on the Greek Epic Poets, 
 Orators, Rhetoricians, and many of the illustrious Roman 
 Families and Gentes, the Roman Emperors, from Augustus down 
 to the Antonines. All these contributions, about one-fourth of 
 the whole work, bear their author's initials (L. S.) 
 
 9. To the seven volumes of the Biographical Dictionary, pub- 
 lished under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffu- 
 sion of Useful Knowledge, Dr Schmitz contributed a variety of 
 articles connected with classical literature, the history of Phi- 
 lology, and German history and literature. All these articles 
 bear his initials (L. S.) 
 
 0. To the last ten volumes of the Penny Cyclopaedia, Dr 
 Schmitz has contributed many articles ; such as Plautus, Poly- 
 Mus, Pompdus Pontifex, Publicola, Qucestor, Rome, Senatus, 
 Scipio, the family of the celebrated Henry and Robert Stephens, 
 Tarquinius, Theophrastus, Servius Tullius, Tribunus, Tribus, 
 Tzetzes, Zonaras. 
 
 11. To the Supplement of the Penny Cyclopaedia he has like- 
 wise contributed articles on the Topography of Athens, and on 
 Greek and Roman Inscriptions, &c. 
 
 12. A German translation of Bishop Thirlwall's History of 
 Greece. Bonn, 1840, 8vo. 
 
 13. A History of Rome from the Earliest times to the Death 
 of Commodus, A. D. 192. Lond. 1847, 12mo. This work, for 
 the use of Schools and Colleges, is based upon a careful exami- 
 nation of the original sources. 
 
 The Editorial management of the Classical Section in Cham- 
 bers's Educational Course, has been committed to Dr Schmitz, 
 and Dr Zumpt of Berlin. In that Course there have already 
 appeared Caesar's Gallic War, and the works of Virgil and of 
 Sallust, with commentaries and other illustrations.
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 83 
 
 2. Doctors or Classical Masters. 93. 
 
 I. GEOBGE HASTIE, M.A., elected February 26, 1588. He is 
 styled first Regent July 21, 1598, and he was then ordered to 
 desist teaching. (Council Record ap. an.) 
 
 II. LAURENCE PEACOCK, M.A., nominated March 26, 1596. 
 He held the office for about twenty years. 
 
 III. PATRICK HISLOP, M.A., appointed March 26, 1596. Re- 
 signed January 11, 1597. 
 
 IV. GEORGE KIRKWOOD, M.A., elected March 26, 1596. 
 
 V. JOHN BALFOUR, M.A., elected May 18, 1597. Res. Jan. 
 7, 1598. 
 
 VI. ROBERT STEVEN, M.A., elected January 24, 1598. 1608, 
 January 1. " Robert Steven has contravened his oath of Burges 
 by taking up the gramar schole in Canongait, and drawing the 
 bairnis fra the Hie Schole of Edinburgh." (Council Record, vol. 
 xi. f. 244.) He continued Rector of the Canongate School till 
 his death, which happened January 1618. (Test. Regist. Edinb. 
 ap. an.) 
 
 VII. JOHN TRUESHILL, M.A., became a Doctor about the 
 year 1600. He died March 1617. 
 
 Vni. JAMES LOGAN, M.A., elected March 12, 1617. 
 
 IX. ALEXANDER READ, M.A., chosen about the year 1618. 
 
 X. DAVID WILL, M.A., elected August 4, 1619. See Craw- 
 ford's Hist, of the Univ. of Edinb., p. 96. See CHAP. II. 
 
 XI. THOMAS LAWSON, M.A., chosen in the year 1620. 
 
 XII. WILLIAM SPANG, M.A., was born at Glasgow in 1607. 
 He received the chief part of his education in his native city ; 
 and he was enrolled as a student of Philosophy in its University. 
 May 1622. Three years afterwards he took the degree of M.A. 
 In 1625 he became a doctor in the High School ; and that situ- 
 ation he held till January 1630, when he was elected Minister of 
 the Scottish Church at Campvere. He was translated to the 
 neighbouring town of Middleburg, and admitted pastor of the 
 English Congregation there, November 10, 1652. He died June 
 17, 1664. Spang was cousin to Robert Baillie, Principal of the 
 University of Glasgow (from 1637 to 1662); and with the learn- 
 ed Principal he carried on an extensive and very valuable corres-
 
 84 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [A PP. 
 
 pondence. It was chiefly from Baillie's communications that 
 Spang wrote an account of Scottish affairs in 1637 and 1638, 
 which was printed under the following title : 
 
 Brevis et fidelis Narratio Motuum in Regno et Ecclesia Sco- 
 tica, excerpta ex scriptis utriusque partis scitu dignissimis. Per 
 Irinseum Philalethen. Dantisci, Anno 1640, 4to, thirty-five 
 leaves not paged. The narrative ends with October 1638. It 
 was republished, as " HISTORIA MOTUUM EV REGNO SCOTLE," 
 with a Continuation to near the close of 1640. The title is as 
 follows : 
 
 Rerum nuper in Regno Scotiae Gestarum Historia, seu verius 
 Commentarius, causas, occasiones, progressus horum motuum 
 breviter et perspicue proponens, simul cum synopsi concordise, 
 quantum hactenus inita est. Excerptus ex scriptis utriusque 
 partis scitu dignissimis, quorum primaria in Latinum sermonem 
 nunc primum fideliter translata inseruntur. Per Irinseum Phi- 
 lalethen, Eleutherium. Dantisci, Anno Domini 1641, small 8vo, 
 pp. 576. 
 
 Spang was the editor of Dr Arthur Johnston's Latin Poems, 
 printed at Middleburg in 1642. Dr Andrew Rivet, in his Life 
 of Boyd of Trochrig, prefixed to his Commentary on the Epistle 
 to the Ephesians, published in 1652, speaks in high terms of 
 Spang's erudition; and so does Professor Hoornbeek, who in- 
 scribes to him Baillie's posthumous Latin Work on Scripture 
 Chronology. (See Laing's Memoir of the Life and Writings of 
 Robert Baillie, prefixed to the new and exceedingly valuable 
 edition of Principal Baillie's Letters and Journals, 3 vols. 8vo, 
 Edinb. 1842 ; Principal Lee's Memorial for the Bible Societies 
 in Scotland, Part I., p. 106 ; and Hist, of the Scottish Church 
 in Rotterdam, &c., by the present writer, pp. 294, 318, 323. 
 Edinb. 1833, 8vo.) 
 
 XIII. ROBERT FAIRLIE, M.A., " son to an honest citizen, 
 laureat anno 1624." (Crawford's Univ. of Edinb., p. 134.) He 
 was chosen one of the teachers in the School about 1625. 
 
 XIV. JAMES HODGE, M.A., elected August 15, 1627. 
 
 XV. ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, M.A., chosen in the year 1620. 
 Res. November 1632. 
 
 XVI. ARCHIBALD NEWTON, M.A., elected February 19, 1630. 
 See Crawford's Univ. of Edinb., p. 125. Res. February 1634 ;
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 85 
 
 appointed minister of Duddingstone, in the vicinity of Edinburgh, 
 in 1635, and of Liberton in 1639. In the churchyard of Lib- 
 erton, in the vicinity of Edinburgh, there existed, till within the 
 last twenty-five years, a monument to the memory of Archibald- 
 Newton, bearing the following inscription: Reverendus Do- 
 minus AKCHIBALDUS NEWTONUS, honestis parentibus, et liberal! 
 institutione domi felix ; postea imbelli corpusculo, carceris squa- 
 lore ac malis, apud purioris religionis hostes, foris attrito; in 
 patriam redux, ingenio et eloquentia sic claruit, ut primum 
 Duddingstonise annos 4, et deinde 18, Libbertonise pastor, utro- 
 bique in mutuo gregis amore, Religionis et Regise dignitatis 
 constans assertor : anima tandem 2 Junii 1657 in coelos mi- 
 gravit, et corporis exuvias, in piorum resurrectionem hie recondi 
 voluit. 
 
 XVII. DAVID BISHOP, M.A., elected March 12,1630, to such 
 place "whilk sal be fund fittest be the Maister." Res. 19th 
 February 1640, on becoming Rector of the Canongate High 
 School. (Council Record, ap. an.) 
 
 XVIII. JAMES ADAMSON, M.A., nephew to Principal Adam- 
 son, elected November 30, 1632. Res. March 1634. " There- 
 after a minister in Ireland." (Crawford's Univ. Edinburgh, p. 
 124.) 
 
 XIX. JOHN BOWIE, M.A., elected February 7, 1634. Res. 
 April 1638. 
 
 XX. JAMES ELLIOT, M.A., elected March 26, 1634. 
 
 XXI. JOHN LANGLAM>S, Student, elected April 13, 1638. 
 
 XXII. JAMES CARNMURE, elected in the year 1638. Res. 
 June 1, 1642, on being " preferred to be Maister of the schooll at 
 Moffat." (Council Record, ap. an.) 
 
 XXIII. ROGER LOWRIE, elected February 19, 1640. Died 
 March 1645. 
 
 XXIV. THOMAS PILLANS, M.A., elected June 1, 1642. 
 
 XXV. JOHN FORRESTER, M.A., Student, elected March 28, 
 1645. 
 
 XXVI. FRANCIS COCKBURNE, M.A., elected about the year 
 1641. Died January 1666. 
 
 XXVII. JOHN WHTTLAW, M.A., elected April 10, 1646. 
 Res. November 4, 1681, on account of old age, with full salary 
 for life.
 
 86 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OP [APP. 
 
 XXVIII. ROBERT LIVINGSTONE, M.A., elected September 
 29, 1647. Res. October 1649. 
 
 XXIX. SAMUEL MACCORNE, M.A., elected October 3, 1649. 
 Died April 1667. (Test. Regist. Edinb.) 
 
 XXX. JAMES RITCHIE, elected October 26, 1649. 
 
 XXXI. JAMES BROWN, elected July 26, 1654. Dismissed for 
 "severall miscarriadges," August 16, 1665. 
 
 XXXII. JOHN VERNOR, elected September 22, 1665. Res. 
 March 1667. 
 
 XXXIII. ALEXANDER BURTON, elected January 12, 1666. 
 Res. November 1, 1676. 
 
 XXXIV. ROBERT JACK or JACKSON, M.A., elected March 15, 
 1667. Died February 1678. (Irving's Life of George Buchanan, 
 p. 237, 2d edit.) 
 
 XXXV. JAMES ANDERSON, Student, elected March 27, 1668. 
 
 XXXVI. JAMES SCOT, Student, elected November 1, 1676. 
 
 XXXVII. JAMES SCOTT, "indweller in Edinburgh," elected 
 March 1, 1679. Deposed March 1, 1679, on account of his ad- 
 herence to Presbytery. 
 
 XXXVIII. ROBERT BLAW, M.A., Schoolmaster of Calder, 
 elected March 19, 1678. Deposed April 1, 1685. 
 
 " It is stated by the author of ' a character of Mr Bias's book, 
 entitled Suadela Victrixf that the errors of the press were nearly 
 as numerous as the lines. Mr Robert Blaw, the author of several 
 school books, obtained the sole privilege of publishing them for 19 
 years, by act of the Privy Council, 16th September 1686. This 
 man is said to have acted as a spy, and to have rendered himself 
 otherwise subservient to the despotic measures of the government 
 to which he owed his license." (Principal Lee's Memorial, &c., 
 Pt. i. p. 153.) 
 
 Writings of Robert Blaw. 1. The Accidences of the Parts of 
 Speech ; or, the Rudiments of Etymology. Of this work, in 
 12mo, three editions were published at Edinburgh in 1686, 
 1691, and 1695. 2. Vocabularium Duplex, seu Fraus elusa. 
 The first edition appeared in 1686, and the much enlarged second 
 in 1698. 3. The Etymology of the Latin Tongue in English, 
 containing seven Books: The Syntax of the Latin Tongue in 
 English ; The Prosody of the Latin Tongue, partly in English, 
 partly in Latin ; The Fourth Part of Grammar commonly called
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 87 
 
 Orthography, adapted to the Latin and English Tongue. Edinb. 
 1711> 12mo. 4. Libamina Junioribus Philologis degustanda, 
 or the Locutions of the Latin Tongue described and illustrat- 
 ed, with other things relating thereto. Edin. 1702, 12mo. 5. 
 Praxis Oratoria, containing Five orations by way of a comical 
 Play (both Latin and English) viz. upon Diligence, Mechanicks, 
 Arts, Learning, Latin Tongue, and Maternal Indulgence. To 
 which are added an Oration, concerning the Cocks and their 
 Game, declaimed yearly both in Latine and English by every one 
 of the high class, the whole time of their solemn fighting. An 
 Inaugural Oration of the Victor at Candlemas, holding forth 
 to the youth the reasonableness of a limited Monarchy, con- 
 firmed also by Authorities out of the Ancients. Edin. 1703, 
 12mo. 
 
 XXXIX. ALEXANDER FOBSTTH, M.A., Student, elected 
 April 4, 1679. 
 
 XL. GEORGE BURNET, " Student in Philosophy," elected No- 
 vember 4, 1681. 
 
 XLI. JOHN JOHNSTONE, elected September 22, 1682. Res. 
 September 14, 1709. 
 
 XLII. JOHN FORD, Student, elected November 3, 1682. Res. 
 May 20, 1685. 
 
 XLIII. THOMAS TAIT, M.A., Student in Divinity, elected 
 April 1, 1685. Res. May 20, 1688. 
 
 XLIV. DUNCAN WHTTE, M.A., Student in Divinity, elected 
 May 20, 1685. 
 
 XLV. JOHN FULLERTON, elected November 25, 1685. Res. 
 July 1686. 
 
 XL VI. THOMAS DARLLNG, M.A., Student in Divinity, elected 
 July 27, 1686. Res. March 9, 1698, 
 
 XL VII. ANDREW SKENE, M.A., Schoolmaster of Prestonpans, 
 elected May 20, 1688. Res. August 1690. 
 
 XLVIII. WILLH.M MCIR, " Student in the College of Edin- 
 burgh," elected September 11, 1690. 
 
 XLIX. JAMES ANDERSON, elected April 1, 1692. 
 
 L. JOHN GOODALL, M.A., elected February 23, 1694. Res. 
 April 14, 1697. Professor of Hebrew in the University of Edin- 
 burgh November 6, 1702. Died August 1719. 
 
 LI. JOHN ANDERSON, M.A., elected April 26, 1695.
 
 88 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [API'. 
 
 LIT. PATRICK MIDDLETON, M.A., elected May 12, 1697. De- 
 posed May 1, 1702. 
 
 LIII. JOHN MAITLAND, M.A., elected March 9, 1698. Died 
 February 1713. (Test. Regist. Edinb.) 
 
 LIV. JOHN ARROLL, M.A., elected April 8, 1698. Res. 
 January 11, 1710. 
 
 LV. JOHN JOHNSTONE, Junior, " Governour to the Laird of 
 Monkrig," elected May 13, 1702. 
 
 LVI. HUGH CRAWFORD, M.A., " son to a merchand-burges of 
 Edinburgh," elected March 15, 1704. (See Ruddiman's Life, 
 p. 387.) 
 
 LVII. THOMAS WATT, M.A., elected September 16, 1709. 
 He published " Grammar made easie ; containing Despauter's 
 Grammar reformed, and rendered plain and obvious to the 
 capacity of youth, Together with a new method of Teaching 
 Latin by Ten English Particles, to which is added a critical 
 Syntax." Mr Andrew Symson, Edin. 1704, 12mo. This ele- 
 mentary work has been repeatedly printed. The best edition is 
 that of Dr James Melvin, at present Rector of the Grammar 
 School of Aberdeen. Dr Melvin has since published an excellent 
 Rudiments of the Latin Language. 
 
 LVIII. GEORGE ARBUTHNOT, M. A., elected February 8, 1710. 
 Res. July 1716, on being elected Head-Master of the Canongate 
 High School. Promoted to the Rectorship of this Seminary 
 November 1717. 
 
 LIX. WILLIAM HADDEN or HALDANE, elected April 19, 1710. 
 Died August 1717. 
 
 LX. JAMES TAIT or TATE, elected November 22, 1710. Res. 
 April 22, 1719, "in respect he was going for England." 
 
 LXI. JOHN KER, M.A., Master of the Grammar School of 
 Crieff, elected March 25, 1713. Res. December 4, 1717, having 
 been appointed to the Greek Chair in King's College, Aberdeen. 
 He was elected Professor of Humanity in the University of Edin- 
 burgh in 1734. Died November 19, 1741. See CHAP. III. 
 
 Writings of John Ker. 1. Donaides : sive Musarum Aber- 
 donensium de eximia Jacobi Fraserii, J.U.D. In Academiam 
 Regiarn Aberdonensem munificentia, Carmen Eucharisticum. 
 Edinb. 1725, 4to. 2. Cantici Solomonis Paraphrasis gemina ; 
 Prior vario Carminum genere, altera Sapphicis Versibus per-
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 89 
 
 scripta. Notis Criticis et Philogicis illustrate*. Auctore Joanne 
 Kerro Dunblanensi, Grsecarum Literarum in Collegio Regio 
 Universitatis Aberdonensis Professore. Edinburgi : In ^Edibus 
 Tho. Ruddimanni, Impensis Auctoris MDCCXXVII. 12mo. 
 A large paper copy of this work in my possession, was presented 
 to Ruddiman the grammarian by the author, in whose neat 
 handwriting is the following inscription : " Ornatisimo viro, ele- 
 gantium literarum studiis, morum integritate, atque omni virtute 
 spectatissimo, Thomae Ruddimanno, A.M. in conjunctissimis suis 
 Amicis conjunctissimo ; hanc Cantici Solomonis Paraphrasin, in 
 sincerissimi sui amoris amicitiseque oh'm initae nee unquam temer- 
 andse symbolum, muneri mittit. Jo. Ker, Coll. Reg. Aberdon. 
 A.D. MDCCXXVII. XII Kal. Maias." 
 
 Several Latin poems of Mr Ker, will be found in the early 
 volumes of the Scots Magazine. 
 
 LXJI. JAMES PATERSON, M.A., Student in Humanity, elected 
 August 1, 1716. Died July 1722. Translator of Paterculus, 
 Edinb. 1723, 8vo, and Compiler of the original High School 
 Vocabulary. 
 
 LXLU. ROBERT SPENCE, Master of the Grammar School, 
 Montrose, elected September 11, 1717. Died June 1742. (Test. 
 Regist. Edinb.) See CHAP. III., and Ruddiman's Life, p. 144. 
 
 LXIV. ALEXANDER FINDLATER, M.A., Schoolmaster at Mont- 
 rose, elected January 3, 1718. Died January 20, 1735. (Test. 
 Regist. Edinb.) 
 
 LXV. JAMES GIBB, M. A., Student in Philosophy, elected April 
 22, 1719. Res. February 14, 1759. 
 
 LXVI. JAMES WINGATE, Student in Philosophy, elected 
 August 17, 1722. Died March 1731. (Test. Regist. Edinb.) 
 
 LXVII. JOHN LEES, M.A., Student in Divinity, elected March 
 24, 1731. Promoted to the Rectorship, May 1735. 
 
 LXVIII. JOHN LOVE, M.A. He was born at Dumbarton in 
 July 1695, and at its Grammar School was prepared for the Uni- 
 versity of Glasgow. Having taken his degree he returned to his 
 native place, and for a time acted as Usher to Mr David M'Alpine, 
 his former Teacher. In 1720 he was placed at the head of the 
 School ; and while in Dumbarton he taught Tobias Smollet the 
 Latin language. On the 14th February 1735, he was appointed 
 to a Mastership in the High School. This eminent man re-
 
 90 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 signed that charge, October 2, 1739, on being elected Rector of 
 the Grammar School of Dalkeith. He died September 20, 1750, 
 aged fifty-five. See CHAP. III. Mr Love was twice married. 
 By his first wife he had thirteen children, all of whom died in 
 early life except two sons, respecting whom the late Mr George 
 Chalmers, author of " Caledonia," communicated to me, several 
 years ago, the following particulars : " With regard to the 
 sons of John Love, David and Robert : David Love was a cler- 
 gyman of the Church of England, a man of great learning and 
 of much simplicity. He went out to Maryland, where he ob- 
 tained a valuable Rectory about four miles from Annapolis, the 
 metropolis. This circumstance introduced him to the acquaint- 
 ance of General Sharpe, and other eminent persons. There 1 
 first knew and esteemed him. In 1775, 1 was driven away from 
 Maryland by the American revolt, and left Mr David Love be- 
 hind me. He at length found himself obliged to quit his parish 
 (where he had laboured from 1764 to 1777), and come to Eng- 
 land. After a while he obtained the Rectory of Fingringhoe, 
 near Colchester. His brother, Robert Love, I first knew as a 
 commander of a merchant ship in the tobacco trade to Maryland. 
 The colonial commerce having been interrupted by the American 
 war, he also returned to London. When I knew him latterly, 
 he was employed by the Admiralty in overseeing the raising of 
 seamen on Tower Hill. He had all the looks and manners of a 
 Navy Lieutenant, and was well stricken in'years." See also, Chal- 
 mers's Life of Ruddiman, and the admirable account of the parish 
 of Dalkeith, by the Rev. Peter Steele, M.A., in the New Sta- 
 tistical Account of Scotland. 
 
 Writings of John Love. 1. Animadversions on the Latin 
 Grammar, lately published by Mr Robert Trotter, Schoolmaster 
 at Dumfries. Edinb. 1733, 8vo. 2. He published, along with 
 Mr Robert Hunter, a Teacher in George Heriot's Hospital, and 
 who afterwards became Professor of Greek in the University of 
 Edinburgh, a most correct and elegant edition of Buchanan's 
 Psalms, illustrated with Notes, original and selected. Ib. 1737, 
 8vo. 3. Buchanan's and Johnston's Psalms compared. 76. 
 1740, 8vo. 4. A Vindication of Mr George Buchanan, in two 
 Parts. Ib. 1749, 8vo. 
 
 LXIX. WILLIAM CREECH, M.A., Teacher of a private School
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 91 
 
 in the City, elected May 21, 1735. Died January 1739. (Test. 
 Regist. Edinb.) 
 
 LXX. JOHN RAE, Schoolmaster of North Berwick, elected 
 February 14, 1739. Res. January 24, 1759, and became Rector 
 of the Grammar School of Haddington. He died June 3, 1763. 
 (Test. Regist. Edinb.) See CHAP. ILL 
 
 LXXI. JAMES ANDERSON, Parochial Teacher of Selkirk, was 
 appointed October 3, 1739. Res. April 22, 1752, on being 
 chosen Rector of the Grammar School of Kelso. 
 
 LXII. JAMES BARCLAY, M.A., " Teacher of a private School 
 in the City," was elected June 2, 1742. He resigned November 
 1750, on being chosen to succeed Mr John Love as Rector of the 
 Grammar School of Dalkeith. Mr Barclay remained in that 
 situation till his death, which occurred June 5, 1765. See CHAP. 
 ILL He left four daughters. One was married to Mr John Bal- 
 lantyne, merchant in Kelso, and became the mother of Messrs 
 James and John Ballantyne, who afterwards were so closely 
 identified with Sir Walter Scott in the printing and publishing 
 of his works; and the other three were respectively married 
 to the Rev. James Rutherford of Hounam, the Rev. William 
 Shiells of Earlston, and the Rev. George Cunningham. 
 
 Writings of Mr Barclay. 1. A Treatise on Education, &c. 
 Edinb. 1743, 12mo. 2. The Greek Rudiments; in which all 
 the grammatical difficulties of that language are adapted to the 
 capacities of children, after the plan of Mr Ruddiman's Latin 
 Rudiments. Ib. 1754, 8vo. 3. The Rudiments of the Latin 
 Tongue ; in which the difficulties of all the parts of our Latin 
 grammars are made plain to the capacities of children. Ib. 
 1758, 8vo. 
 
 LXXIH. JOHN GILCHRIST, M.A., Usher in the Grammar 
 School of Dalkeith. He was elected November 7, 1750, and 
 died October 1766. The following inscription, written by Mr 
 Luke Fraser, I found inserted in the Official Register of the High 
 School scholars, under the last-mentioned date : " Anno Domini 
 MDCCLXVI to mortuus est JOANNES GILCHRIST, annos circiter 
 XLV natus, qui per annos sedecim pueros instituendi munere in 
 Schola Edinensi Regia, summa cum laude functus est. Non 
 confectus annis, non fractus morbo, sed diris laboribus yictus ; 
 uxore, filiis duobus, filiaque flentibus, fato cessit. Hunc excepit
 
 92 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [API'. 
 
 LUCAS FRASERIUS, octavo kalendas Decembres, certaraine publico 
 iiiito atque peracto, jam turn agens trigesimum setatis annum." 
 
 LXXIV. ROBERT FARQUHAR, M.A. He had been parish 
 schoolmaster of Lochlee in Forfarshire ; and from 1731 to 1739 
 Master of the Grammar School of Forres. (Private Informa- 
 tion.) On the 22d April 1752, he was chosen to succeed Mr 
 James Anderson. Res. September 5, 1772. Died October 30, 
 1782. 
 
 LXXV. ALEXANDER BARTLET, elected February 7, 1759. 
 Died December 19, 1773. 
 
 LXXVI. JAMES FRENCH, a native of Tweedsmuir in Tweed- 
 dale. He had been schoolmaster of Temple in Midlothian ; but 
 when appointed to the High School, February 14, 1759, was 
 parochial teacher of Tester. His second wife was a daughter 
 of the Rev. James Witherspoon, minister of Tester, and the sister 
 of the Rev. Dr Witherspoon, who became President of Princeton 
 College, New Jersey. Mr French was the early instructor of the 
 Rev. Dr Charles Nisbet, President of Dickenson College, Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 On his resignation, June 28, 1786, he retired to Lanarkshire, 
 where he peacefully spent the remaining |three years of his life 
 with his son, the worthy minister of Carmunnock. In the bury- 
 ing ground of that place, the following beautifully simple and 
 touching inscription appears: " Sacred to the Memory of JAMES 
 FRENCH, late one of the Masters of the High School of Edin- 
 burgh; who died at the Manse here, 9th March 1789, aged 
 74, his son being minister of this parish. He lived by the faith 
 of the Son of God a life of humility, piety, and active bene- 
 volence. His children have erected this stone, in testimony of 
 their affection, in memory of his virtues, and to the praise of the 
 riches of Divine grace." 
 
 His son, the Rev. James French, who was successively minis- 
 ter of Carmunnock and East Kilbride, and who died April 26, 
 1835, was private tutor to Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 LXXVII. LUKE FRASER, was born at Auchenrath, in the 
 parish of Kirkmahoe, on Christmas day, old style, 1735, or accord- 
 ing to the present reckoning, January 5, 1736. His knowledge of 
 Latin, previously to his joining the Humanity Class in the Univer- 
 sity of Edinburgh, was acquired during a six months' attendance
 
 XO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 93 
 
 only at the Grammar School of Dumfries. Although Mr Fraser 
 was later than usual in beginning his classical studies, the rapidity 
 with which he acquired Latin and Greek was very remarkable. 
 His talents in this respect were certainly of a very high order. 
 He commenced teaching at Gubhill, a side-school in the parish of 
 Closeburn ; and to the parochial school of Durrisdeer he was soon 
 removed. Whilst attending the Divinity-Hall in the University 
 of Edinburgh, he was engaged by Mr Wauchope of Niddry as 
 domestic tutor to his son. Mr Matheson of the High School, 
 owing to the delicate state of his health, being unable to discharge 
 his duties, Mr Fraser entered into an arrangement with him, and 
 taught the Rector's Class for a considerable time. 
 
 The death of Mr Gilchrist having caused a vacancy in the 
 School, Mr Fraser, who had given indubitable proofs of his fitness, 
 was elected, after a comparative trial, November 26, 1766, as 
 one of the Classical Masters. In CHAPTERS III. and IV. we 
 have spoken of his long and valuable services. On the 16th of 
 July 1805, Mr Fraser addressed the subjoined letter to the Lord 
 Provost, intimating his intention of retiring into private life : 
 
 MY LORD, I consider it as my duty to inform your Lordship, 
 that I must resign my office as one of the Masters of your High 
 School, on or before the 1 st day of October next. I began to 
 teach a public school the 1st of October 1752, and since that time 
 (I acknowledge it with gratitude), t have not been confined from 
 discharging my duty to my pupils above one month altogether. 
 Forty years of that time have been employed in the service of 
 this city ; and the class I am now going to part with, has been the 
 most numerous that I ever had, excepting one. Should I engage 
 with another, I have no reason to think I should want pupils ; 
 but I cannot bear the thought that the public should suffer from 
 any weakness or inactivity of mine in the decline of life. I 
 therefore beg of your Lordship, to intimate my intention to the 
 Magistrates and Council, that they may take the steps necessary 
 for providing a successor to me by the 1st day of October next. 
 I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most obe- 
 dient and faithful humble servant, LUKE FRASER. l 
 The Right Hon. Sir William Fettes, Bart., 
 Lord Provost of Edinburgh. 
 
 1 Council Record, vol. cxliii. Pp. 280-91.
 
 94 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 Mr Fraser died November 27, 1821, and was interred in the 
 Canongate Churchyard. From his portrait, which was painted 
 by Watson, an excellent engraving by C. Turner was published 
 in 1810. A son, who became a member of the Society of Writers 
 to the Signet in 1813, and one daughter of Mr Fraser, still survive. 
 
 LXXVIII. WILLIAM CRUICKSHANK, M.A., studied at the 
 University of Edinburgh, where he gave decided indications of 
 scholarship. He had been well trained by his uncle, Mr William 
 Cruickshank, the eminent schoolmaster of Dunse, who taught, 
 with great ability, the Latin, Greek, and French languages, 
 during a period of forty-five years preceding his death, in 1778. 
 
 The subject of this notice became Rector of the High School 
 of the Canongate, September 20, 1770; and he was appointed 
 successor to Mr Farquhar in this seminary, September 5, 1772. 
 He died March 8, 1795. See CHAP. III. 
 
 LXXIX. WILLIAM NICOL, M.A., was born at Dumbretton, 
 parish of Annan, in the year 1744. His father, a poor but re- 
 spectable man, died in early life, leaving an unprovided widow 
 and an only child, the subject of this sketch. Young Nicol ac- 
 quired his elementary instruction from Mr John Orr, a self-taught 
 genius and an itinerant teacher, who was in the practice of open- 
 ing a school among the farmers in Dumfries-shire. It was cur- 
 rently asserted, and by some believed, that Orr could not rest 
 long in a place, in consequence of having laid a ghost ! An ac- 
 count of his interview with the spectre is even circumstantially 
 preserved in a popular rhyme. From this reputed exerciser, who 
 was withal a strict disciplinarian, Nicol derived lu's first know- 
 ledge of Latin. When a mere lad, he opened a school in his 
 mother's house. He often adverted to this period of his life with 
 gleesome recollection, mentioning, that it required all the mater- 
 nal authority, prudence, and tact, to keep the young teacher and 
 his juvenile group of scholars in proper subjection ; for, whenever 
 she had occasion to leave the apartment, their attention was in- 
 stantly withdrawn from the lesson, and in an eager body did they 
 proceed to plunder the good woman's amory or cupboard ! N icol 
 was at first idle and averse to study ; and it was not until after 
 his emulation was roused and attention fixed, when for a short 
 time at the Grammar School of Annan, of which Dr Henry, the 
 historian, was then rector, that his talents began to appear.
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 95 
 
 From small beginnings he obtained the means of entering the 
 University of Edinburgh, -where he distinguished himself in the 
 literary classes. At one period he meant to study for the church. 
 The practice, now abolished, of the students delivering their sen- 
 timents on the discourses of their class-fellows in the Divinity 
 Hall then existed. Nicol was a frequent and a pungent critic. 
 When engaged in his theological pursuits he offered himself for 
 a vacant Mastership in the High School ; and, on the 2d February 
 1774, he became the successful candidate. For a time he was 
 one of the most popular teachers in this seminary. Had his 
 talents and qualities of mind and heart been under more strict 
 discipline to the guidance of wisdom and prudence, he would have 
 been remembered as a bright ornament of his day. He was in 
 truth a person easily excited. His passions, when roused, were 
 high and indignant ; but, agreeably to the testimony which we 
 have obtained from one who knew him intimately, " Nicol's 
 heart was warm and full of friendship. He cherished with en- 
 thusiasm the recollection of his early years, and rejoiced to meet 
 the companions of his youth. He would go any length to serve 
 and promote the views and wishes of a friend ; but whenever 
 low jealousy, trick, or selfish cunning appeared, his mind kindled 
 to something like fury and madness." He and his friends had 
 more than one occasion to lament that he could not duly curb an 
 unruly temper. This, indeed, ultimately led to his quitting the 
 High School. See CHAP. III. With Robert Burns he was in 
 habits of the closest intimacy ; and the poet has identified and 
 perpetuated his name in a well-known song. Nicol thus publicly 
 announced, in September 1795, his resolution to prosecute his 
 profession as a teacher : 
 
 " Mr Nicol, having dissolved his connexion with the Magis- 
 trates and High School, proposes to open an Academy on the 1st 
 of October next, in a large and well-aired room in Jackson's Land, 
 High Street, North Side, a little below the Cross, for instructing 
 young gentlemen in the LATIN LANGUAGE. Pupils of every age, 
 even those who require initiation in the very first principles, will 
 be admitted, and formed into proper classes, which will be brought 
 forward with all possible accuracy and dispatch. In teaching the 
 most advanced one, the strictest attention will constantly be paid 
 to Geography, Versification, and Antiquities ; and the business
 
 96 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [AIM'. 
 
 principally conducted in the Language of Rome, a circumstance 
 which gives a decided superiority to the Grammar Schools on the 
 Continent over those of Great Britain : For the Latin Language, 
 proper principles premised, may be as easily and speedily acquired, 
 by the constant habit of speaking it, as any modern one whatever ; 
 though few, in this country, seem to advert to it." Mr Nicol 
 was much employed in translating Theses for medical students ; 
 and in that way, with his public teaching, realized a competency. 
 He died April 21, 1797, and was interred in the Calton Bury- 
 ing-Ground, near the monument of Hume, the historian. He 
 had seven children, of whom a son and two daughters survived 
 him. 
 
 LXXX. ALEXANDER CHRISTISON, M.A., was born of humble 
 parentage, in the parish of Cockburnspath, July 1749. He 
 acquired the rudiments of Greek and Latin under somewhat 
 peculiar circumstances. So great was his thirst for learning, that 
 he walked three times a- week, in the evening, a distance of seven 
 miles, that he might receive private lessons from Mr William 
 Johnston, parochial schoolmaster of Coldingham. Of that inde- 
 fatigable and successful teacher, we have heard Mr Christison 
 speak in terms of much respect and affection. To Mr John- 
 ston he acted for a short while as assistant. After this he com- 
 menced a school in his native parish ; and whilst there engaged 
 in the work of tuition, he was called to take charge of a school 
 in Berwickshire. The Rev. Alexander Cuthbertson, the present 
 incumbent of Edrom, obligingly sent me the subjoined extract 
 from the register of his parish for March 3, 1775 : " Mr Red- 
 path, the minister, mentioned to the session, that Mr Alexander 
 Christison, private teacher in Old Cambus, was chosen school- 
 master by the heritors ; and at the minister's request he was ap- 
 pointed precentor and session-clerk, with the emoluments." He 
 resigned his charge at Edrom, May 17, 1776, stating to the heri- 
 tors, " that he had got a call to teach in Edinburgh, which he 
 thought advantageous for him to accept." Mr Christison fully 
 availed himself of the benefit which his residence in the me- 
 tropolis afforded him ; and he then attended the literary classes 
 in the University. In the summer of 1778 he applied for the 
 Mastership of the Grammar School of Dunbar. There were 
 seven applicants ; and the magistrates resolved that their quali-
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 97 
 
 fications should be tested by competent judges in Edinburgh. 
 The examiners drew up the following minute : 
 
 " Four candidates were examined with respect to their know- 
 ledge in the Latin, Greek, and French languages ; and having 
 found unanimously that Mr Christison, [late] schoolmaster at 
 Edrom, not only surpassed the other candidates in his knowledge 
 of Latin and Greek, but gave such proofs of his acquaintance with 
 classical learning as, in our opinion, qualify him in every respect 
 for being an eminent Master of any Grammar School ; at the 
 same time, we take this opportunity of doing the other candidates 
 the justice to declare, that some of them, particularly Mr William 
 Dick from Haddington, made a good appearance. (Signed) 
 And. Dalzel, Prof, of Greek, University of Edinburgh ; John 
 Hill, Prof, of Humanity ; Alex. Adam, Rector of the High 
 School, Edinburgh." The Magistrates of Dunbar, on the 8th 
 May 1778, appointed Mr Christison to be Master of their Gram- 
 mar School ; but on the 20th of the same month a letter was re- 
 ceived from the Master-elect, intimating that he could not accept 
 of the office ; whereupon Mr Dick was chosen in his place. (Ex- 
 cerpts from the Record of the Town Council of Dunbar, kindly 
 procured for me by the Rev. John Jaffray, minister of that 
 parish.) The reason of Mr Christison's declinature of the Dun- 
 bar School was, that on the recommendation of Dr Adam, one 
 of his late examiners, he had been chosen, on the 16th of May, 
 a Master in George Watson's Hospital. 
 
 In 1781 he was nominated by his Grace Henry Duke of Buc- 
 cleuch to the Rectorship of the Grammar School of Dalkeith. 
 Under the vigorous direction of Mr Christison the reputation of 
 that seminary was greatly increased. This recommended him to 
 the Town Council of Edinburgh, as the candidate most worthy of 
 taking charge of the class in the High School, which the growing 
 infirmities of Mr James French compelled him to resign. His 
 election took place July 5, 1786. " Many years experience," 
 says Dr Andrew Brown, " of the fine spirit with which Mr Chris- 
 tison conducted the business of his department, extending at 
 once the range of elementary instruction, and producing, on the 
 recurrence of his fourth annual examination, not only the most 
 substantial proofs of a critical acquaintance with the languages, 
 history, and literary works of Greece and Rome, but, what was 
 
 ff
 
 98 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 far better, of well cultivated talents fitted for every kind of exer- 
 tion, opened to him, on the death of Dr John Hill, the undisputed 
 succession to the Chair of Humanity in this University. The pre- 
 ferment (bestowed upon him December 11, 1805) was the more 
 gratifying to his feelings, that it was awarded by the united suf- 
 frage of all the learned and dignified bodies in the city." (Notice 
 of the Life aiid Character of ALEXANDER CHRISTISON, A.M.) 
 In the same pamphlet, which was printed for private circulation, 
 it is said, " So long as Mr Christison had to deal with boys, he 
 kept them steadily in their place. On entering the gates of the 
 University, he felt that he occupied other ground; and calmly 
 made his appeal to the sense of character, which the perception 
 of worth, and the desire of approbation, so powerfully awaken 
 in the youthful bosom. It may confidently be affirmed, that no 
 Professor in any University ever made a more considerate or a 
 more kindly estimate of the talents and character of his pu- 
 pils; of whom, numerous as Mr Christison's classes were, it is 
 well known that not one escaped his notice, or failed to attract 
 a portion of his regard. To the scholar labouring under the 
 embarrassments of deficient resources, his indulgence was unre- 
 strained. He seemed, in fact, to regard it as one of the chief pri- 
 vileges of his condition, that it enabled him to assist the deserving 
 in surmounting those difficulties which he had conquered by in- 
 born strength." We cannot resist transferring to our pages the 
 following beautiful passage from Dr Brown : " It is a privilege 
 and a consolation to recollect, that in relation to the present world, 
 to which the usefulness of mere intellect is wholly confined, 
 there falls not one, in any of the high places of human life, whose 
 departure retards the progress of scientific discovery, or restrains 
 the general tendency of the spirit of the age. No spring is ever 
 withdrawn from the machine of society, that either impedes its 
 movements, or diminishes the value of the work produced. 
 Enough of talent always survives to execute the task assigned to 
 the generation that takes possession of the scene. Professor 
 Christison had an abiding conviction of this great truth; and 
 estimated the powers of thought and the treasures of learning as 
 nothing, when viewed only in their application to the purposes of 
 bustle and exhibition on the part of the individual. In language 
 that yet rests on the ear, he represented the honest exertion of
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 99 
 
 cultivated talents, in purifying the elements of private character 
 and promoting the cause of virtue among men, as constituting 
 their supreme claim to respect. Such an exertion of them formed, 
 in his opinion, the richest source of enjoyment in the days of 
 peace, and the only legitimate refuge from the pressures of ad- 
 versity. He sought this refuge, in his own case, with an inten- 
 sity of application that equally braced his mind for the toils of 
 study, the duties of life, and the offices of humanity. The faith 
 and hope of Christianity supplied the food that nourished this 
 high principle. Amidst all the changes of the times in which he 
 lived, he reaped his reward in that quietness and assurance, which 
 reposed, without a doubt, on the efficacy of the blood of the 
 Cross, by which God is reconciling all things to himself, whether 
 they be things in heaven or things on earth." I have made 
 these extracts from Dr Brown's affectionate and able memorial 
 of his friend, not only because the pamphlet referred to must be 
 in the hands of few ; but because, having enjoyed an acquaint- 
 ance of several years with the late Professor Christison, pre- 
 vious to his death, which occurred on the 25th June 1820, I 
 can better appreciate the accuracy of the delineation of charac- 
 ter presented in the preceding quotations. The late Rev. Dr 
 Thomas Macknight (the colleague of Dr Andrew Brown), pre- 
 pared a valuable biographical notice of Mr Christison, which ap- 
 peared in the " Edinburgh Courant " a few days after the Pro- 
 fessor's death. A short excerpt from Dr Macknight's sketch, 
 with some additional information, will be found in CHAP. IV. 
 The leisure of his later years was given by Professor Christison 
 to a rigorous examination of the modes of expounding and illus- 
 trating the principles of pure Mathematics. His published papers 
 on scientific subjects are regarded as highly creditable to his 
 memory. He left a widow (who survived him eleven years), and 
 three sons, John, who was called to the Scottish Bar in 1810 ; 
 Robert, at present Professor of Materia Medica in the University 
 of Edinburgh ; and Alexander, minister of the parish of Foulden 
 in Berwickshire. 
 
 Writings of Professor Alexander Christison. 1. The General 
 Diffusion of Knowledge, one great Cause of the Prosperity of 
 Great Britain : with an Appendix, containing a Proposal for 
 improving the present Mode of Teaching the Greek Language,
 
 100 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 Edinb. 1802. 2. On the Doctrine of Fluxions, Ann. Philos. 
 vol. v. 327, 1815. 3. Application of Fluxions to Lines of the 
 Second Order or Degree, Ib. vol. x. 417, 1817. 
 
 LXXXI. JAMES CRIRIE, M.A., D.D., was born in the parish 
 of New Abbey, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in April 1752. 
 When two years old he lost his father; and not long after- 
 wards he removed with his mother to Kirkgunzeon, where he 
 was employed herding cattle. The Rev. William Clark, the 
 minister of that parish, having noticed his fondness for read- 
 ing, encouraged this propensity by supplying him with suit- 
 able books. He was in a great measure self-taught. Such 
 proficiency did he make in study, that he was found qualified to 
 undertake the management of a school, to which his reverend 
 friend nominated him. Of Mr Clark's attention and encourag- 
 ing kindness, he cherished, through life, a grateful recollection. 
 From Kirkgunzeon Mr Cririe removed to a similar situation in 
 the parish of Lochrutton. In consequence of distinguishing 
 himself there, he honourably obtained, in May 1777, the 
 Mastership of the Grammar School of Wigton, in Galloway. In 
 November 1781 he was appointed Rector of the Grammar School 
 of Kirkcudbright. He was advanced, by comparative trial, No- 
 vember 1787, to the Rectorship of the High School of Leith. 
 There, so early as 1790, Mr Cririe introduced the monitorial 
 system of teaching. The enthusiasm and success with which he 
 discharged his duty in Leith, and his acknowledged proficiency in 
 classical literature, qualified him for filling the vacancy in the 
 High School, to which he was elected March 18, 1795. He was 
 master of some of the modern languages, particularly French 
 and Spanish. Mr Cririe was sometime Latin Secretary to the 
 Society of Scottish Antiquaries. He resigned his Mastership 
 in the autumn of 1801, having been presented to the parish of 
 Dalton ; and by the Presbytery of Lochmaben he was ordained 
 on the 17th September of that year. The degree of Doctor 
 in Divinity was conferred upon him, March 11, 1802, by the 
 University of Edinburgh, at which he had prosecuted his studies. 
 Dr Cririe, after assiduously devoting the remainder of his 
 days to the discharge of his pastoral duties, died January 5, 
 1835, leaving a widow, who survived him nine years. For the 
 preceding particulars I am indebted partly to a communication
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 101 
 
 which I had the pleasure of receiving from Dr Cririe himself, 
 as also to two of his co-presbyters, namely, the Rev. James Ha- 
 milton, minister of New Abbey, and the Rev. Thomas H. Thom- 
 son, the worthy successor of Dr Cririe at Dalton. 
 
 Writings of Dr Cririe. Scottish Scenery ; or, Sketches in 
 Verse, descriptive of Scenes chiefly in the Highlands of Scotland ; 
 accompanied with Notes and Illustrations ; and ornamented 
 with Engravings by W. Byrne, F.S.A., from Views painted by 
 G. Walker, F.A.S.E. Lond. 1803, 4to. " The object," says the 
 author, " which he proposed to himself, was to express the feel- 
 ings of the heart on the survey of picturesque beauty, and the 
 scenes of past events presented to his view, in the different 
 parts of the country which he visited." 
 
 LXXXII. WILLIAM RITCHIE, M.A., was born in the parish 
 of Methven, in the year 1756. His father was a respectable 
 farmer. He studied at the University of St Andrew's ; and in 
 November 1774, the parochial school of Abernethy was entrusted 
 to his charge. Having accepted an assistantship in the Perth 
 Academy, he left Abernethy in May 1779. In 1786 he obtained 
 the Rectorship of the High School of the Canongate, which at 
 that time was a well attended seminary. When the Count 
 d'Artois, afterwards Charles the Tenth, King of France, resided 
 at the Palace of Holyrood towards the close of last century, Mr 
 Ritchie gave him instructions in English. With the view of 
 rendering the lessons useful, he recommended the study of his- 
 tory to his royal pupil. He tried him in French, English, and 
 Scottish history, but in vain. The only book in our language 
 which he could induce him to read was Goldsmith's Vicar of 
 Wakefield. On the 26th of August 1795, Mr Ritchie succeeded 
 Mr Nicol in the High School. He continued acceptably to 
 perform his professional duties till 1818, when, in April of that 
 year, he intimated to the patrons his intention of closing his 
 scholastic labours on the 1st of October ensuing. His succes- 
 sor, Mr Lindsay, so long as he remained the junior classical 
 teacher in the school, was taken bound to pay Mr Ritchie an 
 annuity of L.I 50. 
 
 At an early period he showed a marked predilection for travel- 
 ling ; and in every public situation which he filled he uniformly de- 
 voted his vacation to some long journey, which he had previously
 
 102 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP- 
 
 planned with great exactness. He travelled always on foot, and 
 frequently extended his peregrinations so far that he ran short of 
 money, and was obliged to make many unusual shifts to get home. 
 The continent of Europe Mr Ritchie visited repeatedly. In one 
 of his first excursions he spent some time in a monastery in Bel- 
 gium, that he might have the opportunity of conversing with the 
 monks in Latin. He travelled much in France before the first 
 Revolution ; and as he spoke French with great fluency he 
 experienced no difficulty in his intercourse with the natives. At 
 the beginning of the Peninsular war he joined the British troops 
 in Portugal, and followed them for several weeks in their 
 marches. In the autumn of 1812 he accompanied Dr Thomas 
 Thomson to Sweden, the only country in Europe then open to 
 British travellers; and they visited Stockholm and Upsal to- 
 gether. Mr Ritchie left his companion and returned home ; 
 and when, in the following year, Dr Thomson published his 
 " Travels in Sweden," he inscribed the volume to Mr Ritchie ; 
 stating, that it afforded him great pleasure in thus " erecting a 
 kind of public monument of the friendship which had long sub- 
 sisted between them." After retiring from the High School he 
 visited Malta, Egypt, and Palestine. He used to relate an odd 
 incident which happened during his visit to the Pyramids. At 
 Cairo he had engaged a person in the garb of a Turk to act 
 as his cicerone. A few hours' intercourse with the supposed 
 Mussulman elicited the amusing fact that his guide was, like 
 himself, a native of Perthshire ! He returned from the Holy 
 Land in August 1821, and on the llth of January of the fol- 
 lowing year he died at the house of his cousin, the Rev. Dr 
 William Ritchie, Professor of Divinity in the University of 
 Edinburgh. His remains were accompanied to the grave in the 
 Greyfriars Churchyard by a great number of his old scholars. 
 To quote the language of the Ritchie Pupils, 1803-1806 (from 
 their Minute Book in the possession of the Secretary, Alex- 
 ander Macdonald, Esq., of the General Register House, Edin- 
 burgh), "His instructions had fixed in their minds many a 
 useful lesson, and his gentleness and urbanity of manner had 
 formed many a valuable habit. They could not allow the op- 
 portunity afforded them by their present meeting (the first since 
 Mr Ritchie's demise), to pass, without testifiying the esteem and
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 103 
 
 regard which they felt for the private and public character of 
 their late worthy preceptor." He was never married. As men- 
 tioned in CHAP. IV. Mr Ritchie's name is kept honourably before 
 the successive pupils of the High School, in consequence of his 
 having bequeathed a sum of money, the interest of which is an- 
 nually expended in the purchase of a gold medal. 
 
 Writings of Mr Ritchie. He edited Cordery, Nepos, and the 
 Grammatical Exercises. It was understood that he had left be- 
 hind him a diary, consisting chiefly of notices of the countries 
 which he had successively visited ; but no such MS. was found 
 among his papers. For some of the preceding particulars I am 
 indebted to Mr Ritchie's friend and fellow traveller already men- 
 tioned, Dr Thomas Thomson, now Professor of Chemistry in 
 the University of Glasgow. 
 
 LXXXIII. JAMES GRAY, M.A., was born at Dunse in the 
 year 1770. His father, an industrious tradesman, was an elder 
 in the Antiburgher congregation in that place. Young Gray re- 
 ceived the early part of his classical education in his native 
 town, under Mr William Cruickshank, the parochial schoolmaster, 
 to whom I had occasion to allude when speaking of his nephew, 
 a Master of the High School. Cruickshank was famous for mak- 
 ing excellent scholars, and for what was then thought its indis- 
 pensable concomitant, severe flogging. James Gray, after spend- 
 ing a few years with Cruickshank, was apprenticed to his father, 
 who was a shoemaker, latterly, by courtesy, a leather merchant. 
 Though he steadily followed his proper calling, literary pursuits 
 occupied his leisure time. So bent, indeed, was he upon the ac- 
 quisition of learning, that when a young man of twenty he was ac- 
 customed during his dinner hour, with the view of not losing what 
 he had gained, to repair to the Grammar School, which was then 
 taught by Mr David White. " Among the earliest things I can 
 remember," says the late James Cleghorn, Esq., Editor of the 
 Farmers' Magazine, and Founder of the Scottish Provident Insti- 
 tution, in a communication with which I was favoured from him a 
 short while before his death, " was the appearance of James Gray 
 in the school, with a leather apron rolled up round his waist. He 
 came in amidst all our staring, and took a seat by himself, not 
 belonging to any class ; turned up his books, and in a few minutes 
 after was upon the floor repeating some Latin author to our
 
 104 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 Master, which he did always easily and without interruption, 
 and I therefore suppose quite well. Indeed, it was the opinion 
 of us all that he was a better scholar than White himself. When 
 the task was over he left the school, and returned at the same 
 hour to perform the same part the day following." Gray re- 
 nounced his trade, and became usher to Mr White. In April 
 1794 1 he was chosen Rector of the Grammar School of Dum- 
 fries, and on the 15th of the following month he entered upon 
 his duties. The sons of Robert Burns were his pupils there ; 
 and in this way he became acquainted with the bard, Mr 
 Gray has borne strong testimony to the anxiety of Bums to 
 have his children thoroughly educated ; and that he " frequently 
 found him in the bosom of his family, explaining our English 
 poets, from Shakespeare to Thomas Gray, or storing their young 
 minds with examples of heroic virtue, as they live in the pages 
 of our most celebrated historians." (Works of Robert Burns, 
 edited by Peterkin, vol. i. Pref. p. Ixxxv). The resignation of 
 Mr Cririe having caused a vacancy in the High School, Mr 
 Gray was chosen in his stead, September 2, 1801. 
 
 In August 1820, when Mr Pillans was called to a Professor- 
 ship, the Town Council appointed Mr Gray sole Teacher of 
 Greek in the school. On the 5th November 1822 he was 
 elected Principal of Belfast Academy. He accordingly ten- 
 dered his resignation on the llth of the following month, and 
 left Edinburgh. See CHAP. IV. He had not been long in Ire- 
 land when his talents and worth, and his high scholarship, espe- 
 cially his knowledge of Greek, recommended him to the notice 
 of several dignitaries of the Established Church. Though 
 brought up among Presbyterian Dissenters, and at one time 
 studying for the Church of Scotland, he was induced to enter 
 into holy orders in the Episcopal communion; and on the 
 21st December 1823, at an ordination held at Belfast, he was 
 admitted a Deacon by the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. 
 In the year 1826 he received an appointment to a Chaplaincy 
 in India, and to that distant land he immediately set out. Soon 
 
 i To Archibald Hamilton, Esq., Writer, Dumfries, I am indebted for 
 several particulars relative to Mr Gray, and the grammar school of that 
 town.
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 105 
 
 after his arrival at Bombay, Mr Gray was appointed Chaplain 
 at the station of Bhooj in Cutch. In a letter addressed to a 
 friend in Edinburgh, Mr Gray thus refers to his occupations in 
 the East : 
 
 " Bhooj, April 28, 1830. My life is as retired and uniform as 
 possible. The greatest part of my day is spent in absolute soli- 
 tude. Never was there such a contrast in two periods of the 
 history of any individual as in rny present and my Edinburgh 
 life. I who lived so many years in the whirlwind of human 
 beings, now see few people but my own native servants gliding 
 into my apartments with noiseless steps, and starting up behind 
 me like dark shadows, and disappearing when their momentary 
 business is over with as little observation, that I am often not 
 aware of their absence." * * * * "My pre- 
 sent employments, after the discharge of my duties as mili- 
 tary chaplain, have, as their object, the improvement of the 
 natives of this country morally and religiously. I have deserted 
 the elegant and the polished languages of Greece and Rome for 
 the barbarous languages of India. I have submitted to the 
 drudgery of learning two of these languages; and to this no 
 motive could h?,ve induced me but the desire of giving to the 
 idolaters of India the Scriptures in their own language. In this 
 work of translating I have made some progress, and hope in no 
 long time to print a complete version of the New Testament. I 
 am engaged in other interesting employments, of which the chief 
 is the education of the young King of Cutch. He is a fine young 
 man of about nuecu years of age, modest, unassuming, and a 
 most kindly heart. In the language of Court flattery he is 
 already represented as a prodigy of learning, yet he has too 
 much good sense to be puffed up by this, and no one is more 
 sensible of his deficiencies nor more desirous of correcting them. 
 He has already made some progress in the knowledge of the 
 English language, and Geography and Astronomy. I shall be 
 able, I have no doubt, to make him one of the most learned 
 kings that ever were in India, as he promises to be one of the 
 most humane. Oh ! that I may be enabled in the course of his 
 education to impart to his mind a portion of that wisdom that 
 cometh down from above, and that alone maketh wise to salva- 
 tion. These are the subjects that engross my thoughts, that are
 
 106 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 the theme of my evening and morning and midnight prayers, 
 Join your prayers to mine, that my exertions may be blessed to- 
 wards the cleansing of this land from its pollutions and abomina- 
 tions ; for Indian society is corrupted to its very core with a rot- 
 tenness of which no one can form any conception." 
 
 During the year in which he wrote the above he met the late 
 Sir John Malcolm, Governor of Bombay, at Bhooj. " I think 
 him," says Mr Gray, "one of the most extraordinary men I have 
 ever seen." 
 
 Whilst usefully employed in translating the four gospels into 
 the Cutchee, which was never before a written language ; and 
 when, with great pains, he had completed a Vocabulary of that 
 tongue, this active-minded and excellent man was suddenly cut 
 off by water in the chest, on the 25th of September 1830. His 
 death was declared by the Governor of Bombay as "a public 
 loss ; " and in the leading journals in India a tribute of respect 
 was spontaneously paid to his memory ; and his name, it was al- 
 lowed, would take its place beside that of Leyden, Carey, Mori- 
 son, and similar benefactors of the highest interests of our race. 
 The Rao has erected a handsome monument to the memory of 
 his former tutor. Notices of Mr Gray will be found in Lock- 
 hart's Life of Robert Burns ; Hogg's Queen's Wake ; Burnes's 
 Sketch of the History of Cutch, &c. p. 224, 2d edition ; Mrs 
 Elwood's Narrative of a Journey Overland from England to 
 India, and Residence there, 1825-1828, vol. ii. pp. 109-111, 
 and 252-3 ; Letters of Mrs Grant of Laggan, vol. iii. p. 137 ; 
 Dr Wilson's Memoir of Mrs Margaret Wilson, of the Scottish 
 Mission, Bombay, 4th edition, pp. 238-240 ; and a Memoir of 
 the Rev. James Gray, in the Oriental Christian Spectator for 
 1831, pp. 153-159, written by his son-in-law, Robert Cotton 
 Money, Esq. (son to the late Consul-General at Venice). Mr 
 Gray was twice married. By the first marriage he had four 
 sons and three daughters. His second wife, who died in India, 
 had no children. In the " Dublin University Magazine " for 
 March 1845, is a Memoir of Mrs James Gray, the poetess, 
 and daughter-in-law of the subject of this sketch, of whom like- 
 wise it contains some particulars. 
 
 Writings of Mr Gray. Of his elegant and spirited Essays on 
 the Greek Tragedians, which appeared in Blackwood's Magazine,
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 107 
 
 Vol. I., mention has been made in CHAP. IV. He published, 
 a Greek Vocabulary, 12mo. ; also " Cona, or the Vale of Clwyd, 
 and other Poems," Edinb. 1816, 12mo. Mr Gray's " Sabbath 
 among the Mountains," a fine specimen of sacred poetry, ori- 
 ginated in his meeting the Rev. Dr Chalmers and the Rev. 
 Legh Richmond, on a visit to the Rev. Robert Story, at the 
 Manse of Roseneath, a singularly romantic spot in Dumbarton- 
 shire. He describes with much feeling and power, " the happy 
 recollections of a day of rest spent in their society, with all its 
 lovely accompaniments of mountain scenery, rustic worship, and 
 the habits of peasants, whose lot has been so remotely cast from 
 a tumultuous world." His judicious compilation entitled, " Se- 
 lecta Latine, ex Historicis, Philosophis, et Criticis" was well 
 received. The object of the volume, which soon reached a 
 second edition, was to provide for the advanced forms of our 
 Grammar Schools a more extensive, and, at the same time, a 
 more select course of prose reading than had formerly been 
 accessible to them. Models in every species of prose writing 
 were extracted from Csesar, Sallust, Livy, Cicero, and Quinc- 
 tilian, calculated alike to form the taste of the young student, 
 and to train his mind to just modes of thinking and manly 
 principles. With the view of facilitating his progress without 
 relaxing his diligence, explanatory Notes and a general Index of 
 Biography, Geography, and Antiquities were added. On that 
 portion of the work, as we had access to know, the Editor devoted 
 very great pains. The biographical part in particular is distin- 
 guished by a rich conciseness. 
 
 LXXXIV. GEORGE IRVINE, the youngest son of a small farmer, 
 was born in the parish of Kirkpatrick-Fleming in the year 1772. 
 After a regular attendance at the parochial school, he was suf- 
 ficiently stored with learning to enable him to teach a school at 
 New Abbey. He thence proceeded to the University of Aberdeen, 
 and at the close of his first session at College obtained a tutorship 
 in a family in the Highlands. At the expiration of his engage- 
 ment he returned to Dumfries-shire. Though quite unknown in 
 Edinburgh, and unpatronised,he competed for a vacant Mastership 
 in Heriot's Hospital, and on the 25th May 1792 he was declared 
 the successful candidate. The manner in which he discharged 
 the duties of his situation procured for him, 16th March 1795,
 
 108 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 the post of House- Governor or Head -Master of that important 
 Institution. On the 14th of August 1805, he was chosen one of 
 the Masters of the High School. In the following year he 
 married Miss Jane Younger Thomson, only sister of the late 
 Rev. Dr Andrew Thomson. Mrs Irvine predeceased her husband. 
 Mr Irvine was much respected and beloved by his pupils. He 
 resigned in August 1829, an arrangement having been entered 
 into, by which his successor, Dr Boyd, agreed to pay him a 
 retiring annuity of L.100. He died at Saughpark, near Eccle- 
 fechan, July 15, 1834. See CHAP. IV. 
 
 LXXXV. AGLIONBY-ROSS CARSON, was elected January 2, 
 1806. He was promoted to the Rectorship in 1820. See LIST 
 of RECTORS. 
 
 LXXXVI. SAMUEL LINDSAY, M.A., a native of South Leith, 
 of which parish his father, Mr Alexander Lindsay, was the re- 
 spected schoolmaster and session-clerk for thirty years. He 
 commenced his classical education in the High School of Leith, 
 under Mr John Bayne ; and he subsequently became a pupil of 
 Dr Adam in this Seminary. He then entered the University of 
 Edinburgh, where he went through a course of literary, theolo- 
 gical, and medical study. On the 12th of November 1811, the 
 Governors of George Heriot's Hospital elected Mr Lindsay Clas- 
 sical Master in that Institution. In 1814 he was licensed by the 
 Presbytery of Biggar. In our notice of Mr Ritchie we have 
 mentioned the particulars of the arrangement when Mr Lindsay 
 was chosen, April 15, 1818, to succeed that gentleman. After 
 having ably laboured in the High School for twenty-five years, 
 he resigned, September 7, 1843, on a retiring annuity of L.120, 
 payable, in the first instance, in equal proportions, by Messrs 
 Cannichael and Gunn, who were elected Classical Masters that 
 year ; and of which sum it was agreed they should also be pro- 
 portionally relieved as vacancies occurred in the other Classical 
 Masterships. See CHAP. FV. 
 
 Besides the High School Vocabulary, which has been fre- 
 quently printed, Mr Lindsay published an Abridgement of the 
 Histories of Greece and Rome, adapted to the Idiom of the 
 Latin Tongue. Edinb. 1822, 12mo. 
 
 LXXXVII. BENJAMIN MACKAY, M.A.,a native of the parish 
 of Halkirk in Caithness. When a young man he taught for three
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 109 
 
 years in the flourishing school and boarding establishment of Mr 
 John Cooper at Dalmeny, near Queensferry. In 1806 he 
 commenced a classical seminary in Edinburgh ; and his eminence 
 as a teacher attracted to him many pupils. The patrons were for- 
 tunate in securing Mr Mackay's services for this seminary, having 
 appointed him, August 30, 1820, to the Mastership which Dr Car- 
 son's deserved promotion to the Rectorship left vacant. He re- 
 signed August 8, 1843. See CHAP. IV. Since his connexion 
 with the High School ceased, Mr Mackay has spent most of his 
 time on the Continent. He is at present resident in Brussels. 
 
 Writings of Mr Mackay. Rudiments of the Latin Language ; 
 intended to facilitate the progress of the learner, by retrenching 
 the superfluities, supplying the defects, and rectifying the mis- 
 takes of Ruddiman's Rudiments. Edinb. 1812. Of this little 
 work there have been many editions. He also published, Rudi- 
 ments of the Greek Language. 76. 1820 ; a Greek and English 
 Vocabulary, comprehending all the most important primitives of 
 the Greek Language. Ib. 1825, 2d edit. ; Synopsis of the Greek, 
 Latin, and French Languages; consisting of Short Sentences 
 progressively arranged; whereby the three languages may be 
 studied simultaneously, and the principal words and constructions 
 soon acquired, even by young pupils. Ib. 1838. Mr Mackay, 
 who has long taken a lively interest in the schools of his native 
 county, has prepared for the Edinburgh Caithness Association 
 a valuable pamphlet on the subject. 
 
 LXXXVIII. WILLIAM PVPER, M.A., LL.D., a native of the 
 parish of Rathen, Aberdeenshire. Early in life he was en- 
 rolled a student in Marischal College, Aberdeen. Like Thomas 
 Ruddiman, the celebrated grammarian, he commenced his pub- 
 lic career as parochial schoolmaster of Laurencekirk, Kincar- 
 dineshire. This was in the year 1815. He found Dr George 
 Cook, the historian and leader of the church, minister of Lau- 
 rencekirk, and with that reverend and learned gentleman he 
 had the happiness of forming a friendship which continued 
 during the life of Dr Cook, whose colleague he became in the 
 University of St Andrews. In 1817 Mr Pyper was translated 
 to Maybole in Ayrshire ; and from the last-mentioned place, on 
 the 19th September 1820, he was translated to a Classical Mas- 
 tership in the Grammar School of Glasgow. On the 18th De-
 
 110 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 cember 1822, he succeeded Mr James Gray in the Edinburgh 
 Seminary. On being presented to the Chair of Humanity in 
 the University of St Andrews, he resigned this charge, October 
 22d, 1844, when a gratifying proof of the estimation in which 
 Dr Pyper was held as a man and a teacher was manifested at a 
 meeting of the citizens of Edinburgh, presided over by the Chief 
 Magistrate. See CHAP. IV. 
 
 Writings ofDr Pyper. We have already spoken of Dr Pyper's 
 ^excellent edition of Adam's Grammar. See APP. p. 64. He 
 superintended the publication of an edition of Horace, of the 
 Gradus ad Parnassum, and of Dalzel's Analecta Graca Minora. 
 In addition to these, may be mentioned his " Specimens of the 
 British Poets, from Chaucer to the Present Time, for the Use 
 of the High School." Edinb. 1835, 12mo; " Questions on Gold- 
 smith's Roman History ; to which are annexed, Brief Notices 
 of the Principal Latin Authors," Ib. 1838, 18mo ; and the Life 
 of Virgil, in the seventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 
 LXXXIX. JAMES BOYD, M.A., LL.D., a native of Paisley. 
 He was educated at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh ; 
 and licensed by the Presbytery of Dumbarton in May 1822. 
 Three years afterwards he became Head-Master of George 
 Heriot's Hospital ; and of the admirable manner hi which he per- 
 formed the delicate and arduous duties of that important charge 
 we have had occasion elsewhere to speak. (See " Memoir of 
 George Heriot," &c., pp. 201-203.) His appointment as one 
 of the Classical Masters in the High School took place August 19, 
 1829. See Chap. IV. A well executed engraving of the late 
 Thomas Duncan's excellent portrait of Dr Boyd has recently 
 appeared. 1 
 
 Writings of Dr Boyd. 1. Adam's Roman Antiquities, with 
 Questions. Glasg. 1834, 12mo. Of this improved edition of the 
 work fifteen editions have already been called for. 2. Potter's 
 Grecian Antiquities, 76. 1837. 3. Anthon's Sallust, with addi- 
 tional Notes and Examination Questions, &c. Lond. 1834. 4. 
 
 1 Mr William Douglas, the engraver of Dr Boyd's portrait, has been 
 equally successful, not only in his drawings of several illustrations for 
 this volume, but in his engraving of the High School, which forms 
 the frontispiece of our little work.
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. Ill 
 
 Anthon's Select Orations of Cicero, with additional Notes, Ib. 
 1842. 5. Anthon's Horace, with additional Notes, Ib. 1835. 6. 
 Jacobs' Greek Eeader, with additional matter, 76. 1844. 
 
 XC. WILLIAM-WALKER CARMICHAEL, the fourth son and fifth 
 child of Mr John Carmichael, teacher, who is now connected with 
 the Carron Company, was born at Muirkirk, October 20, 1803. 
 The family having left Ayrshire in the Spring of 1804, and set- 
 tled at Bainsford in the parish of Falkirk, Mr Carmichael's 
 children received the elements of their education from himself. 
 William, in due time, went to the Grammar School of Falkirk, 
 then taught by Mr Thomas Gibson. He was afterwards edu- 
 cated by his eldest brother Archibald (Dux of the School in 1811. 
 See AFP. No. VI.), who became parochial schoolmaster of Crieff 
 in 1817. He accompanied his learned relative to Crieff, with the 
 double view of prosecuting his classical studies under the superin- 
 tendance of his brother, and of aiding him in the public busi- 
 ness of teaching, a duty for which he was every way qualified 
 from the experience he had previously acquired in his father's 
 school. In 1819 he was recommended to Sir Patrick Murray, 
 Bart.,* of Ocluertyre, to conduct the education of two of that 
 gentleman's younger sons; and he continued to reside in that 
 family till October 1822, when he entered the Rector's Class of 
 the High School of Edinburgh. " He had been but a very short 
 time a member of the class," says Dr Carson, " when he proved 
 most convincingly that he had been initiated in the Greek and 
 Latin languages with uncommon skill and care, and had availed 
 himself most successfully of the advantages which he had enjoyed. 
 At an early period of the session, he attained the distinction of 
 being one of the first scholars in a class, peculiarly rich in high 
 talents, and continued during the year to make such proficiency, 
 as I have seldom, if ever, seen surpassed." Writing some time 
 afterwards to Mr Carmichael, sen., the Rector observes, " I think it 
 extremely probable, if your son William had returned to my class, 
 that more than one member of your family would have been deco- 
 rated with the highest honour which the High School can bestow." 
 Mr Carmichael attended the literary and theological classes 
 in the University of Edinburgh. He was much engaged in 
 private tuition previous to his appointment, in March 1831, to 
 a Mastership in George Watson's Hospital. In that Institu-
 
 112 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OP [APP. 
 
 tion he remained for two years, when he left Edinburgh to 
 take charge of the Classical department in the Madras Col- 
 lege, St Andrews. During the ten years he laboured in that 
 important field, it was universally allowed that he discharged 
 his professional duties with distinguished ability and success. 
 The testimony borne to Mr Carmichael's character by men of all 
 parties was so decided, that he was elected, September 7, 1843, 
 to the vacancy in the High School occasioned by the retirement 
 of Mr Mackay. Subsequent to this he declined the acceptance 
 of more than one lucrative professional appointment. He stood 
 as a candidate for the office of Rector at the close of 1845, when 
 Dr Schmitz was chosen to succeed Dr Carson. 
 
 Mr Carmichael was suddenly removed by death, August 30, 
 1848, at Doune in Perthshire, whither he had gone to spend the 
 vacation. From a well written sketch of his character which ap- 
 peared in an Edinburgh Journal, we give what follows, as, in our 
 opinion, at once concise and just : 
 
 " Mr Carmichael has long been known as one of the most ac- 
 complished classical scholars and successful teachers in the coun- 
 try, and his reputation has been steadily extending. Mr Car- 
 michael's method of teaching was characterized by excellencies 
 of a rare and very high order. It was quiet and unostentatious, 
 and yet remarkably energetic and successful. His devotedness 
 to the interests of his pupils was unwearied, and he was careful 
 to attend to their religious and moral training, as well as to their 
 acquirement of classical knowledge. He had an utter aversion 
 to every thing like superficial display ; and the multitudes who 
 have witnessed the annual examinations of his classes, can bear 
 testimony to the minute and thorough acquaintance which his 
 pupils possessed with the principles of the Greek and Latin lan- 
 guages. He, on principle, avoided every engagement which had 
 a tendency to unfit him for the efficient discharge of the duties 
 of his situation. He was a person of sterling integrity and up- 
 rightness, and under a quiet, and to strangers a somewhat re- 
 served, demeanour, he concealed great kindness of disposition and 
 warmth of affection. The death of such a man, in the midst of 
 his years and usefulness, must be regarded as a great public loss, 
 and creates a blank which it will be no easy matter to supply." 
 Mr Carmichael has left a widow, two sons, and a daughter.
 
 NO. VI.] THE CLASSICAL MASTERS. 113 
 
 XCI. WILLIAM MAXWELL GUNN, was born at Redding, in the 
 parish of Polmont. In 1823 he carried off the gold medal in the 
 Rector's Class (See List of Medallists, APP. No. VIII.) He was 
 the first Rector of the Edinburgh Southern Academy, and opened 
 that Institution, which is still flourishing, October 1, 1829. In 
 March 1838 he was chosen Rector of Haddington Burgh Schools ; 
 and on the 7th September 1843, he succeeded Mr Samuel Lind- 
 say in the High School. 
 
 Writings of Mr Ounn. 1. Hints on the Study of Biblical 
 Criticism in Scotland. Edinb. 1838, 8vo. 2. Religion in connexion 
 with a National System of Instruction : their union advocated; 
 the arguments of Non-Religionists considered, and a system pro- 
 posed. Ib. 1840. 12mo. He has edited, 3. The First Five Books of 
 Livy, with English Notes, and Index of Proper Names. 2d edit. 
 Ib. 1843, 12mo. 4. Select Orations and Writings of Cicero, with 
 English Notes. 2d edit. Ib. 1848. 5. Select Works of Robert 
 Rollock, First Principal of the University of Edinburgh. For 
 the Wodrow Society. 2 vols. Ib. 1844-48, 8vo. 6. Rudiments 
 of the Latin Language ; for the use of the High School of Edin- 
 burgh. Ib. 1847, 12mo. 7. Virgil, with an Introductory Me- 
 moir, and Notes. Ib. 1848, 12mo. (For Chambers' Educa- 
 tional Course. See APP. p. 81.) Mr Gunn is a contributor to 
 Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mytho- 
 logy, and to the Classical Museum. 
 
 XCII. JOHN MACMILLAN, M.A., was born at Buyerflat near 
 Waterside, parish of Keir, Dumfries-shire. He received his early 
 education at the parochial school, Keirmill ; but before entering 
 college, in 1820, he was some time a pupil of the Grammar 
 School of Dumfries. He then attended a regular course of liter- 
 ature and theology at the University of Edinburgh. From May 
 1821 till September 1823 he taught a school near Druidhall, on 
 the confines of Penpont and Durrisdeer ; and subsequently acted 
 for about eighteen months as principal assistant in a large Board- 
 ing Establishment at York. On the 10th of March 1827, Mr 
 Macmillan, while tutor in a family in East Lothian, was ap- 
 pointed, after a comparative trial, resident English Master in 
 George Watson's Hospital ; and in November following, was pro- 
 moted to the Classical Mastership, which he filled for upwards of 
 three years. He was elected, January 24, 1831, Rector of the 
 
 h
 
 114 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [A PP. 
 
 Grammar School of Dumfries, the duties of which office he dis- 
 charged until August 1837, having, on the 20th April preceding, 
 been chosen one of the Classical Masters of the High School of 
 Glasgow, in the room of Dr Lorrain, resigned. While in that 
 seminary, Mr Macmillan was elected, November 1, 1844, as the 
 successor of Dr Pyper in this School. 
 
 XCIII. JOHN CARMICHAEL, born at Inverness, whilst his father 
 (already spoken of as the eminent parochial schoolmaster of 
 Crieff. See APP. p. Ill) was teacher of Latin and Greek in the 
 Royal Academy of that town. Mr John Carmichael, who distin- 
 guished himself both at the Edinburgh Academy, and the Uni- 
 versity, was elected on the 26th September 1848, to succeed his 
 uncle in this seminary. 
 
 3. ORDER OF SUCCESSION OF THE CLASSICAL TEACHERS IN THEIR 
 RESPECTIVE CLASSES. 
 
 Rectors. 1 26. 
 
 Years. 
 
 1519 David Vocat, 6 R 
 
 1524 Henry Henryson, M. A., joint, . . 6 R 
 
 1530 Adam Melville, M.A., . . . 15 D 
 
 1645 Sir John Allan, 1 R 
 
 1546 William Robertoun, 38 R 
 
 1568 Thomas Buchanan, M. A., joint, . . . 3 R 
 
 1584 Hercules Rollock, M.A., .... 11 Dep. 
 
 1596 Alexander Hume or Home, M. A., . 10 T 
 
 1606 John Ray, M.A., 24 D 
 
 1630 Thomas Crawford, M.A., . . . . 10 T 
 
 1641 William Spence, M.A., ... 9 D 
 
 1650 Hew Wallace, M.A., 6 D 
 
 1 The figures before each teacher's name mark the commencement, 
 and those after it the years of his service in the High School. R de- 
 notes that he resigned; I 7 was translated to some other professional 
 appointment ; Dep. was deposed ; D died in office.
 
 NO. VI. J THE CLASSICAL TEACHERS. 115 
 
 Years. 
 
 1656 John Muir, M.A., 3D 
 
 1660 John Hume, M.A., . . . . . 5 D 
 1665 David Ferguson, M.A., . . .. . 4 D 
 1669 Andrew Rutherford, M.A., ....3D 
 
 1672 Alexander Heriot, M.A., .... 7 Dep. 
 
 1679 Alexander Guillone or Guillane, M.A., . 1 D 
 
 1680 William Skene, M.A., . . . . 27 D 
 1717 George Arbuthnot, M.A., . . . 18 R 
 
 1735 John Lees, M.A., 23 R 
 
 1759 Alexander Matheson, M.A., . 9 R 
 
 1768 Alexander Adam, LL.D., joint, . . 41^ D 
 
 1810 James Pillans, M.A., 10 T 
 
 1820 Aglionby-Ross Carson, LL.D., . . 25 R 
 1845 LEONHARD SCHMITZ, PH. D. 
 
 Doctors or Classical Masters. } 
 First Class. 24. 
 
 1588 George Hastie, 8 R 
 
 1596 Laurence Peacock, . . . . . 20 D 
 
 1625 William Spang, . 7 T 
 
 1630 Archibald Newton, 4 T 
 
 1634 John Bowie, 4 R 
 
 1638 John Langlands, 3D 
 
 1641 Francis Cockburn, 25 D 
 
 1666 Alexander Burton, M.A., . . . 10 R 
 
 1676 James Scott, . . _ . . . . 6 D 
 
 1682 John Ford, . . " . . . . 3 R 
 1685 Duncan Whyte, .... Six months R 
 
 1685 John Fullarton, 1 R 
 
 1686 Thomas Darling, 12 R 
 
 1 The reader is here reminded, that the teachers are all on a footing 
 of equality ; that one of the four Masters in rotation opens the First or 
 elementary class in October yearly ; and that he carries forward the 
 same pupils during four sessions, when they are transferred to the 
 Rector.
 
 116 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OP [APP. 
 
 Years. 
 
 1698 John Maitland, 15 D 
 
 1713 JohnKer, 5 T 
 
 1718 Alexander Findlater, 17 D 
 
 1735 John Love, 4 T 
 
 1739 James Anderson, 13 T 
 
 1752 Robert Farquhar, 20 R 
 
 1772 William Cruickshank, . . . 23 D 
 
 1795 James Cririe, 6 T 
 
 1801 James Gray, 21 T 
 
 1822 William Pyper, M.A., LL.D., . . . 22 T 
 1844 JOHN MACMILLAN, M.A. 
 
 Second Class. 19. 
 
 1596 Patrick Hislop, 1 R 
 
 1597 JohnBalfour, 1 R 
 
 1598 Robert Steven, 9 T 
 
 1607 John Trueshill, 10 D 
 
 1617 James Logan, 3 R 
 
 1620 Archibald Douglas, 12 R 
 
 1632 James Adamson, 2 R 
 
 1634 James Elliot, 12 R 
 
 1646 JohnWhytlaw, 24 R 
 
 1681 George Burnet, joint, 1 R 
 
 1682 John Johnstone, 27 R 
 
 1709 Thomas Watt, M.A., 1 R 
 
 1710 William Haldan, 7 D 
 
 1717 Robert Spence, 25 D 
 
 1742 James Barclay, M.A., .... 8 T 
 
 1750 John Gilchrist, 16 D 
 
 1766 LukeFraser, 39 R 
 
 1805 George Irvine, 24 R 
 
 1829 JAMES BOYD, M.A., LL.D. 
 
 Third Class, 29. 
 
 1596 George Kirkwood, .... 3 R
 
 NO. VI.] 
 
 THE CLASSICAL TEACHERS. 
 
 117 
 
 1619 Thomas Lawson, 
 
 1622 Robert Fairlie, 
 
 1627 James Hodge, 
 
 1630 David Bishop, 
 
 1640 Roger Lowrie, 
 
 1645 John Forrester, 
 
 1647 Robert Livingstone, 
 
 1649 James Ritchie, 
 
 1654 James Brown, 
 
 1665 John Vernor, 
 
 1667 Robert Jack or Jackson, 
 
 1678 James Scott, 
 
 1679 Robert Blaw, 
 1685 Thomas Tait, 
 1688 Andrew Skene, 
 1690 William Mure, 
 1694 John Goodall, 
 1697 Patrick Middleton, 
 1702 John Johnstone, Jim., 
 1704 Hugh Crawford, 
 1710 James Tate or Tait, 
 1719 James Gibb, 
 
 1759 James French, 
 1786 Alexander Christison, 
 1806 Aglionby R. Carson, 
 1820 Benjamin Mackay, M.A., 
 1843 William W. Carmichael, 
 1848 JOHN CARMICHAEL. 
 
 Yean 
 
 5, 
 
 3 
 
 R 
 
 5 
 
 R 
 
 3 
 
 R 
 
 10 
 
 R 
 
 5 
 
 D 
 
 2 
 
 R 
 
 ne, . . . . 2 
 
 R 
 
 5 
 
 D 
 
 . . .11 
 
 Dep. 
 
 2 
 
 R 
 
 ackson, .... 1 
 
 D 
 
 1 
 
 Dep. 
 
 5 
 
 Dep. 
 
 3 
 
 R 
 
 . ... 2 
 
 R 
 
 2 
 
 R 
 
 3 
 
 T 
 
 n, 5 
 
 Dep. 
 
 .luii.. .... 2 
 
 R 
 
 6 
 
 R 
 
 ait, 9 
 
 R 
 
 40 
 
 R 
 
 . . . .27 
 
 R 
 
 ison, .... 20 
 
 T 
 
 son, 14 
 
 T 
 
 y,M.A., .... 23 
 
 R 
 
 nichael, .... 5 
 
 D 
 
 Fourth Class. 21. 
 
 1614 Alexander Read, 
 1619 David Will, 
 1638 James Carnmure, 
 1642 Thomas Pillans, 
 1649 Samuel MacCorne, 
 1668 James Anderson, 
 
 5 D 
 
 19 D 
 
 4 T 
 
 7 R 
 
 18 D 
 
 11 D
 
 118 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 Years. 
 
 1679 Alexander Forsyth, 13 D 
 
 1692 James Anderson, 3 R 
 
 1695 John Anderson, 3 R 
 
 1698 JohnArroll, 12 R 
 
 1710 George Arbuthnot, 6 T 
 
 1716 James Paterson, 7 D 
 
 1722 James Wingate, 9 D 
 
 1731 John Lees, 4 T 
 
 1735 William Creech, 4 D 
 
 1739 John Rae, .... . 20 R 
 
 1759 Alexander Bartlet, 14 D 
 
 1774 William Nicol, 21 R 
 
 1795 William Ritchie, . . . . . 23 R 
 
 1818 Samuel Lindsay, M.A., . . . 25 R 
 1843 WILLIAM M. GUMT. 
 
 4. Teachers of tlie French Language. 
 
 I. FRANCOIS SENEBIER, teacher in Aberdeen. Elected Sep- 
 tember 26, 1834. Res. November 9, 1835. At present French 
 Master in the Edinburgh Academy, and in the Scottish Naval 
 and Military Academy. 
 
 II. VICTOR DE FIVAS, chosen December 15, 1835. 
 Writings of M. De Fivas. 1. Introduction to the French 
 
 Language, 5th edit. 1848. 2. Modern Guide to French Con- 
 versation, 3d edit. 1848. 3. Beautes des Ecrevains Ancien et 
 Moderne, prose et poesie, 3d edit. 1848. 4. Grammar of French 
 Grammars, 9th edit. 1848. 
 
 5. Teacher of the German Language. 
 
 CARL-EDUARD AUE, Ph. D., elected August 12, 1845. 
 
 Dr Aue has published " A Grammar of the German Language, 
 being a practical application of Becker's System." Leipsic, 1847, 
 12mo.
 
 NO. VI.] TEACHERS OF WRITING. 119 
 
 C. Teachers of Writing and Book-keeping. 20. 
 
 I. WILLIAM MURDO or MURDOCH, appointed February 8, 1593. 
 See CHAP. I. 
 n. ALEXANDER FLEMING, elected December 27, 1594. 
 
 III. DAVID KING, elected in the year 1605. Res. January 
 28, 1618. 
 
 IV. DAVID BROWN, elected January 28, 1618. He resigned 
 in December 1619. A portion of Brown's correspondence with 
 the Chief Magistrate has been preserved in the City Chambers. 
 The reasons which moved him to leave the school, from which 
 he too frequeptly absented himself he has given in one of his 
 communications : " I had two yeeres experience," says he, " that 
 the same was not able to sustaine any honest man (I meane that 
 lies a great familie as I have), for it will be skersly a hundreth 
 pounds Scottis a year, do what a man can, except he wold be in- 
 stant both in craveing and persueing, as some heer uses to do." 
 According to Brown's statement, many of his employers paid 
 him " for one quarter or two, but litle or nothing for the third 
 and fourt ; and so," adds he, " I hade no gaine there, in respect 
 of my paines and onwaitting, but greefe and displeasure, as my 
 face outwardly declaired before I left it. Your Lordshipe or- 
 dained at my admissione, in the presence of the Maister, that 
 none learning thair grammer in the said scoole sould go furth 
 thereof to other scooles at my ordinar houre of Writing, bot be 
 taught within the same, haveing bothe als good occasion offered, 
 als good chaip [a bargain], and better appointed, than elswhere. 
 Which ordinance, so long as it wes keeped, I tyred not, becaus, 
 indeid, I got sufficient employment, partelie by it, and partelie by 
 my owne scoole beside : but so soone as it wes brokin (though 
 against the Maister's will), and the children dispersing through all 
 the scooles of this burg, under colour of going to Musick scooles, 
 it so redounded to my skaith, that I wes not able to beare out the 
 fine charge, or els I hade not left it." He had been unsuccess- 
 ful in an application which he made to the Town Council, beg- 
 ging that they would give a fixed salary to the Writing Master, 
 and also prevent " the boyes going astray to other places." He 
 says, " the maist that any burges gave me. to teache Ids bairne a
 
 120 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OP [APP. 
 
 quarter of a yeer wes hot twelf schilling Scottis [Is. sterling], and 
 perhaps twenty reproofes either with the same, or as we chanced to 
 meitt, though I did quhat lay in me not to deserve ane, hot a 
 better reward. Indeed, I remember of one that used to give me two 
 twelfpences very thankfullie, and never reproved me." Judging 
 from the document from which we have been quoting, Brown did 
 not entertain the highest opinion of the professional abilities of 
 his brethren in the same line then following their vocation in 
 Edinburgh. He had determined to have specimens of his pen- 
 manship published. To this he alludes in what follows : " I wes 
 mynded to go to London to caus print a booke ; becaus there is 
 no irones for letters of write heer, and to get a priviledge thairof, 
 that none sail sell them bot myself for certane yeeres. And be- 
 caus these things could not be done without great chairges, I be- 
 hoved to tak me to the most appeerand advantage in another 
 parte, since there be many of my calling here to prejudge me of my 
 prices ; and everie ane hes thair own factioun, how sober soever 
 their gifts be ; and now, becaus I have obtened the said priviledge 
 of his Majestie, I am exeemed of my travell, and if it can be 
 gottin done at hame I will neither go, nor send it a feeld." Of 
 Brown's future movements, and the success which attended his 
 speculations as an author, we have no means of knowing. 
 
 V. NEIL ARTHUR, elected shortly after Brown's retirement. 
 
 VI. MATTHEW SHANKS, elected October 25, 1648. 
 
 VII. JOHN BAXTER, elected November 30, 1659. 
 
 VIII. ANTHONY HERRIES, elected June 26, 1678. 
 
 IX. JAMES ALEXANDER, elected May 17, 1704. 
 
 X. ROBERT GODSKIRK, elected October 29, 1707. 
 
 XI. JOHN MACLURE, elected October 7, 1737. Left the School 
 in 1777. See CHAP. III. 
 
 XII. EDMOND BUTTERWORTH, who had been Writing Master 
 in the Dumfries Academy from the 1st March 1773, was elected 
 August 23, 1780. Res. August 1793. Died August 2, 1814. 
 
 XIII. GEORGE PATON, joint, elected November 10, 1790. De- 
 posed August 26, 1795. Died June 25, 1839. 
 
 XIV. DUGALD MASTERTON, elected August 26, 1795. See 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 XV. ALLAN MASTERTON, elected August 26, 1795. Died in 
 1799. See CHAP. Ill,
 
 NO. VI.] ARITHMETIC TEACHERS. 121 
 
 XVI. DUGALD MASTERTON, elected August 26, 1795. Died 
 September 1800. 
 
 XVII. ALLAN Dow, (nephew of Allan Masterton), Writing 
 Master in Edinburgh, elected October 8, 1800. Died May 1802. 
 
 XVIII. ANDREW M C KEAN, elected June 16, 1802. Mr John 
 Syme's excellent likeness of Mr M c Kean was engraved in 1824 
 with great fidelity by Mr Thomas Hodgetts of London. Died 
 November 11, 1828. See CHAP. IV. 
 
 XIX. ALEXANDER M C KEAN, (son of the preceding), elected 
 December 24, 1828. Res. January 17, 1837. He is now an 
 actuary in London. 
 
 XX. WILLIAM COOPER, elected February 7, 1837. 
 
 7. TeacJiers of Arithmetic and Mathematics. 
 
 I. WALTER NICHOL, M.A., LL.D., at one time Arithmetical 
 and Mathematical Master in George Heriot's Hospital, was 
 elected December 24, 1828. See CHAP. IV. Res. August 12, 
 1829. Dr Nichol is at present a teacher of Mathematics, &c., 
 in Edinburgh. 
 
 II. GEORGE LEES, M.A., elected September 9, 1829. Res. 
 September 3, 1834. He is at present Lecturer in the School of 
 Arts, and Teacher of Mathematics in the Scottish Naval and 
 Military Academy. 
 
 Writings of Mr Lees. 1. Elements of Arithmetic, Algebra, 
 and Geometry, for the use of the Students in the Edinburgh 
 School of Arts. Edinb. 1826. 2. Catechism of Natural Phi- 
 losophy, in 2 Parts. 76. 1842, 18mo. 3. Elements of Frac- 
 tional Arithmetic, being Introductory to the Study of Mathema- 
 tics. Ib. 1842. 4. An edition of Comstock's Natural Philo- 
 sophy. Lond. 1845. 
 
 III. WILLIAM MOFFAT, M.A., Arithmetical and Mathematical 
 Master in George Heriot's Hospital, was elected October 7, 1834.
 
 122 ABSTRACT OF THE ANNUAL [\PP. 
 
 8. Teachers of Gymnastics and Fencing. 
 
 I. GEORGE ROLAND, elected October 17, 1843. See CHAP. IV. 
 
 II. GEORGE ROLAND, Junior, elected October 17, 1843. 
 
 No. VII. 
 
 Abstract of the Annual Enrolment of Scholars in tlie High School, 
 from the year 1738 to 1848. 
 
 THE subjoined Abstract has been prepared almost exclusively 
 from the records preserved in the High School. A General 
 Matriculation Register, alphabetically arranged, was not com- 
 menced till 1827, previous to which year each Master enrolled, 
 though not so regularly as could have been wished, in a com- 
 mon Register, the names of his pupils who had subscribed to 
 the Library. But even in the early period, when such a subscrip- 
 tion was not compulsory, there were few who did not contribute. 
 In some cases unfortunately, neither the names nor the number of 
 the pupils of certain Masters can be given. We shall first state, 
 so far as is practicable, the number in each Master's class from 
 1738 to the end of last century; and then the aggregate at- 
 tendance at all the classes from 1801 to the present time. 
 
 Session, 1738-9. Session, 1739-40. 
 
 Teachers. No of Pupils. Teachers. No. of Pupils. 
 
 Lees, Hector, . . 34 Lees, R., . . 24 
 
 Love, .... 68 Anderson, ... 23 
 
 Rae, .... 26 Rae, .... 26 
 
 Spence, 1 . . . Spence, 
 
 Gibb, 2 . . . Gibb, .... 
 
 1 The number of Mr Spence's pupils is not recorded. He was suc- 
 ceeded in 1742 by Mr Barclay. 
 
 2 Mr Gibb never enrolled his pupils' names in the school-register ; but 
 on his resignation in 1759, Mr French, his successor, found nine boys in 
 the class.
 
 NO. VII.] 
 
 ENROLMENT OF SCHOLARS, 
 
 123 
 
 Sess. 1740-1. 
 
 
 Sess. 1745-6, continued. 
 
 
 Teachers. No. 
 
 of Pupils. 
 
 Teachers. No. of Pupils. 
 
 Lees, R., 
 
 30 
 
 Barclay, 
 
 40 
 
 Rae, . 
 
 25 
 
 Anderson, . 
 
 36 
 
 Anderson, . 
 
 18 
 
 Rae, .... 
 
 23 
 
 Spence, 
 
 
 Gibb, .... 
 
 
 Gibb, . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sess. 1746-7. 
 
 
 Sess. 1741-2. 
 
 
 Lees, R., 
 
 44 
 
 Lees, R., . . , 
 
 16 
 
 Rae, .... 
 
 35 
 
 Barclay, 
 
 33 
 
 Anderson, . 
 
 28 
 
 Anderson, 
 
 18 
 
 Barclay, 
 
 31 
 
 Rae, . 
 
 18 
 
 Gibb, .... 
 
 
 Spence, 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 Gibb, . 
 
 . 
 
 Sess. 174-7-8. 
 
 
 
 
 Lees, R., 
 
 20 
 
 Sess. 1742-3. 
 
 
 Rae, .... 
 
 32 
 
 Lees, R., 
 
 26 
 
 Anderson, . 
 
 27 
 
 Kae, . 
 
 26 
 
 Barclay, 
 
 20 
 
 Anderson, . 
 
 21 
 
 Gibb, .... 
 
 
 Barclay, 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 Gibb, . 
 
 
 Sess. 1748-9. 
 
 
 
 
 Lees, R., 
 
 27 
 
 Sess. 1743-4. 
 
 
 Barclay, 
 
 20 
 
 Lees, R., 
 
 18 
 
 Anderson, . 
 
 34 
 
 Rae, . 
 
 23 
 
 Rae, .... 
 
 25 
 
 Anderson, . 
 
 30 
 
 Gibb, .... 
 
 
 Barclay, 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 Gibb, . 
 
 
 Sess. 1749-50. 
 
 
 
 
 Lees, R., 
 
 31 
 
 Sess. 1744-5. 
 
 
 Barclay, 
 
 39 
 
 Lees, R. } 
 
 23 
 
 Rae, .... 
 
 18 
 
 Anderson, . 
 
 28 
 
 Anderson, . 
 
 36 
 
 Rae, . 
 
 25 
 
 Gibb, 
 
 
 Barclay, 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 Gibb, . 
 
 
 Sess. 1750-1. 
 
 
 
 
 Lees, R., 
 
 31 
 
 Sess. 1745-6. 
 
 
 Anderson, . 
 
 39 
 
 Lees, R., 
 
 32 
 
 Gilchrist, 
 
 36
 
 124 
 
 ABSTRACT OF THE ANNUAL 
 
 [APP. 
 
 Sess. 1750-1, continued. 
 
 Teachers. No. of Pu 
 
 Rae, .... 
 Gibb, .... 
 
 Sess. 1751-2. 
 Lees, R., 
 Farquhar, . 
 Gilchrist, 
 
 Rae, .... 
 Gibb, .... 
 
 Sess. 1752-3. 
 Lees, R., 
 Farquhar, . 
 Gilchrist, 
 
 Rae, .... 
 Gibb, .... 
 
 Sen. 1753-4. 
 
 Lees, R., 
 
 39 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 30 
 
 Gilchrist, 
 
 26 
 
 Rae, . 
 
 36 
 
 Gibb, . 
 
 . 
 
 Sess. 1754-5. 
 Lees, R., 
 Farquhar, . 
 Gilchrist, 
 Rae, . 
 Gibb, . 
 
 Sess. 1755-6. 
 
 Lees, R., 
 Farquhar, 
 Rae, . 
 Gilchrist, 
 Gibb, . 
 
 
 Sess. 1756-7. 
 
 
 ails. 
 
 Teachers. No. 
 
 of Pupils. 
 
 30 
 
 Lees, R. t 
 
 36 
 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 54 
 
 
 Gilchrist, 
 
 30 
 
 
 Rae, . 
 
 33 
 
 26 
 
 Gibb, . 
 
 . 
 
 36 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 Sess. 1757-8. 
 
 
 40 
 
 Lees, JR., 
 
 36 
 
 
 Rae, . 
 
 26 
 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 24 
 
 
 Gilchrist, 
 
 35 
 
 34 
 
 Gibb, . 
 
 . 
 
 51 
 
 
 
 39 
 
 Sess. 1758-9. 
 
 
 24 
 
 Matheson, R., 
 
 25 
 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 24 
 
 
 French, 
 
 9 
 
 
 Gilchrist, 
 
 27 
 
 39 
 
 Bartlet, 
 
 32 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 Sess. 1759-60. 
 
 
 36 
 
 Matheson, R., 
 
 17 
 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 28 
 
 
 Gilchrist, 
 
 34 
 
 
 Bartlet, 
 
 43 
 
 44 
 
 French, 
 
 29 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 Sess. 1760-1. 
 
 
 55 
 
 Matheson, R., 
 
 31 
 
 
 Gilchrist, 
 
 30 
 
 
 Bartlet, 
 
 39 
 
 
 French, 
 
 37 
 
 28 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 21 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 44 
 
 Sess. 1761-2. 
 
 
 33 
 
 Matheson, R., 
 
 41 
 
 
 Bartlet, 
 
 27
 
 NO. VII.] 
 
 ENROLMENT OF SCHOLARS. 
 
 125 
 
 Sess. 1761-2, continued. 
 
 Teachers. No. of Pupils. 
 
 French, . . . 31 
 Farquhar, . . . 13 
 Gilchrist, ... 46 
 
 Sess. 1762-3. 
 Matheson, R., 
 French, 
 Farquhar, . 
 Gilchrist, 
 Bartlet, 
 
 Sess. 1763-4. 
 Matheson, R., 
 Farquhar, . 
 Gilchrist, 
 Bartlet, 
 French, 
 
 Sess. 1764-5. 
 Matheson, R., 
 Gilchrist, 
 Bartlet, 
 French, 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 Sess. 1765-6. 
 Matheson, R., 
 Bartlet, . . . 
 French, 
 Farquhar, . 
 Gilchrist, 
 
 Sess. 176G-7. 
 Matheson, R., 
 French, 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 Sess. 1766-7, continued. 
 
 Teachers. No. of Pupils. 
 
 Fraser, ... 27 
 
 Bartlet, ... 40 
 
 
 Sess. 1767-8. 
 
 
 
 Matheson, R., , 
 
 46 
 
 51 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 21 
 
 37 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 44 
 
 20 
 
 Bartlet, 
 
 33 
 
 45 
 
 French, 
 
 46 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 
 Sess. 1768-9. 
 
 
 
 Adam, R., . 
 
 52 
 
 51 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 49 
 
 25 
 
 Bartlet, 
 
 32 
 
 47 
 
 French, 
 
 52 
 
 38 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 37 
 
 39 
 
 
 
 
 Sess. 1769-70. 
 
 
 
 Adam, R., . 
 
 83 
 
 28 
 
 Bartlet, 
 
 43 
 
 38 
 
 French, 
 
 69 
 
 32 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 44 
 
 33 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 77 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 
 Sess. 1770-1. 
 
 
 
 Adam, R., 
 
 60 
 
 36 
 
 French, 
 
 69 
 
 32 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 49 
 
 38 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 78 
 
 24 
 
 Bartlet, ... 
 
 62 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 Sess. 1771-2. 
 
 
 
 Adam, R., 
 
 90 
 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 71 
 
 25 
 
 Farquhar, . 
 
 48 
 
 44 
 
 Bartlet, 
 
 55 
 
 20 
 
 French, 
 
 82
 
 126 
 
 ABSTRACT OF THE ANNUAL 
 
 [APP. 
 
 Sess. 1772-3. 
 
 Teachers. No. of Pupils. 
 
 Adam, R., . . 79 
 
 Fraser, ... 79 
 
 Bartlet, ... 52 
 
 French, ... 73 
 
 Cruickshank, . . 70 
 
 Sess. 1773-4. 
 
 Adam, R., . . 83 
 
 Nicol, ... 40 
 
 French, ... 79 
 
 Cruickshank, . . 74 
 
 Fraser, ... 81 
 
 Sess. 1774-5. 
 
 Adam, R., . . 73 
 
 French, ... 74 
 
 Cruickshank, . . 76 
 
 Fraser, ... 83 
 
 Nicol, ... 79 
 
 Sess. 1776-7. 
 
 Adam, R., . . 105 
 
 Cruickshank, . . 69 
 
 Fraser, . ' . . 82 
 
 Nicol, ... 78 
 
 French, ... 60 
 
 Sess. 1777-8. 
 
 Adam, R., . . 102 
 
 Fraser, ... 84 
 
 Cruickshank, . . 80 
 
 French, ... 62 
 
 Nicol, ... 76 
 
 Sess. 1778-9. 
 
 Adam, R., . . 96 
 
 Nicol, ... 73 
 
 Sess. 1778-9, continued. 
 
 Teachers. No. of Pupils. 
 
 French, ... 66 
 Cruickshank, . . 74 
 Fraser, . . . 76 
 
 Sess. 1779-80. 
 Adam, R., . .111 
 
 French, ... 69 
 Cruickshank, . . 66 
 Fraser, ... 87 
 Nicol, ... 89 
 
 Sess. 1780-1. 
 
 Adam, R., . . 95 
 
 Cruickshank, . . 66 
 Fraser, ... 91 
 Nicol, . . .103 
 
 French, . . . 71 
 
 Sess. 1781-2. 
 
 Adam, R., . . 95 
 
 Fraser, ... 94 
 Nicol, . . .101 
 
 French, ... 86 
 Cruickshank, . . 94 
 
 Sess. 1782-3. 
 
 Adam, R., . .106 
 
 Nicol, ... 92 
 
 French, . . 94 
 
 Cruickshank, . . 103 
 Fraser, . . .115 
 
 Sess. 1783-4. 
 
 Adam, R., . .124 
 
 French, ... 85 
 Cruickshank, . . 99
 
 NO. VII.] 
 
 ENROLMENT OF SCHOLARS. 
 
 127 
 
 Sess. 1783-4, continued. 
 
 Sess. 1789-90. 
 
 Teachers. No. 
 
 of Pupils. 
 
 Teachers. 
 
 No. of Pupils. 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 124 
 
 Adam, R., 
 
 . 115 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 73 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 . 106 
 
 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 66 
 
 Sess. 1784-5. 
 
 
 Christison, 
 
 96 
 
 Adam, R., 
 
 . 125 
 
 Cruickshank, 
 
 i . 51 
 
 Cruickshank, 
 
 89 
 
 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 122 
 
 Sess. 
 
 1790-1. 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 83 
 
 Adam, R., 
 
 . 114 
 
 French, 
 
 99 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 Christison, 
 
 95 
 
 Sess. 1785-6. 
 
 
 Cruickshank, 
 
 62 
 
 Adam, 11.. 
 
 . 118 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 82 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 . 114 
 
 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 86 
 
 Sess. 
 
 1791-2. 
 
 French, 
 
 98 
 
 Adam, R., 
 
 94 
 
 Cruickshank, 
 
 94 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 88 
 
 
 
 Christison, 
 
 89 
 
 Sess. 1786-7. 
 
 
 Cruickshank, 
 
 60 
 
 Adam, R., 
 
 . 142 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 80 
 
 French, 
 
 94 
 
 
 
 Cruickshank, 
 
 . 107 
 
 Sess. 
 
 1792-3. 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 . 125 
 
 Adam, A'., 
 
 . 113 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 85 
 
 Cruickshank, 
 
 51 
 
 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 74 
 
 Sess. 1787-8. 
 
 
 Christison, 
 
 85 
 
 Adam, A'., 
 
 . 122 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 90 
 
 Christison, 
 
 88 
 
 
 
 Cruickshank, 
 
 . 100 
 
 Sess. 
 
 1793-4. 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 122 
 
 Adam, R. } 
 
 89 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 65 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 75 
 
 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 78 
 
 Sess. 1788-9. 
 
 
 Christison, 
 
 89 
 
 Adam, A'., 
 
 . 106 
 
 Cruickshank, 
 
 64 
 
 Cruickshank, 
 
 87 
 
 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 . 110 
 
 Sess. 
 
 1794-5. 
 
 Nicol, 
 
 81 
 
 Adam, R., 
 
 85 
 
 Christison, 
 
 97 
 
 Nicol 
 
 67
 
 128 
 
 ABSTRACT OF THE ANNUAL 
 
 [APP. 
 
 Sess. 1794-5, continued. 
 
 Teachers. No. of Pupils. 
 
 Christison, . . 94 
 
 Cruickshank, . . 68 
 Fraser, ... 96 
 
 Sess. 1795-6. 
 Adam, JR., 
 Christison, 
 Cririe, 
 
 Fraser, . ., 
 Nicol, 
 
 Sess. 1796-7. 
 
 Adam, JR., 
 
 Cririe, 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 Ritchie, 
 
 Christison, 
 
 Sess. 1797-8. 
 Adam, R., 
 Fraser, 
 Ritchie, 
 Cririe, 
 Christison, 
 
 Sess. 1798-9. 
 Adam, R., 
 Ritchie, 
 Fraser, 
 Cririe, 
 Christison, 
 
 Sess. 1799-1800. 
 Adam, JR., 
 Fraser, 
 Ritchie, 
 
 Sess. 1799-1800, continued. 
 
 Teachers . No . of Pupils . 
 
 Christison, . . 109 
 
 Cririe, ... 80 
 
 
 Sess. 1800-1. 
 
 
 
 Adam, jR., 
 
 91 
 
 83 
 
 Fraser, 
 
 81 
 
 94 
 
 Christison, 
 
 143 
 
 62 
 
 Ritchie, 
 
 69 
 
 100 
 
 Cririe, 
 
 80 
 
 49 
 
 Sessions. 
 
 
 
 1801-2, ... 
 
 474 
 
 
 1802-3, 
 
 464 
 
 
 1803-4, 
 
 576 
 
 89 
 
 1804-5, 
 
 515 
 
 69 
 
 1805-6, 
 
 508 
 
 97 
 
 1806-7, 
 
 601 
 
 50 
 
 1807-8, 
 
 595 
 
 129 
 
 1808-9, 
 
 630 
 
 
 1809-10, 
 
 632 
 
 
 1810-1, 
 
 619 
 
 102 
 
 1811-2, 
 
 659 
 
 97 
 
 1812-3, 
 
 674 
 
 53 
 
 1813-4, 
 
 696 
 
 110 
 
 1814-5, 
 
 709 
 
 105 
 
 1815-6, 
 
 801 
 
 
 1816-7, 
 
 857 
 
 
 1817-8, 
 
 846 
 
 125 
 
 1818-9, 
 
 861 
 
 46 
 
 1819-20, 
 
 882 
 
 87 
 
 1820-1, 
 
 890 
 
 80 
 
 1821-2, 
 
 785 
 
 109 
 
 1822-3, 
 
 694 
 
 
 1823-4, 
 
 686 
 
 
 1824-5, 
 
 604 
 
 101 
 
 1825-6, .... 
 
 605 
 
 90 
 
 1826-7, 
 
 601 
 
 109 
 
 1827-8, 
 
 650
 
 NO. VIII.] ENROLMENT OF SCHOLARS. 129 
 
 Sessions. No. of Pupils. Sessions. No. of Pupils. 
 
 1828-9, . . .703 1838-9, . ... 359 
 
 1829-30, . . .739 1839-40, . . .434 
 
 1830-1, . . .706 1840-1, . . .423 
 
 1831-2, . . .578 1841-2, . . .381 
 
 1832-3, . . .560 1842-3, . . .340 
 
 1833-4, . . .476 1843-4, . . .369 
 
 1834-5, . . .380 1844-5, . . .424 
 
 1835-6, . . .366 1845-6, . . .462 
 
 1836-7, . . .371 1846-7, . . .464 
 
 1837-8, . . . 373 1847-8, . . .463 
 
 * We rejoice to learn, whilst this sheet is passing through the 
 
 press, that the High School promises to be well attended during 
 the Session 1848-9. 
 
 No. VIII. 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 1 
 
 Rector's Class. 
 ALEXANDER ADAM, LL.D., Rector. 
 
 THE head-boy or dux of the school at the annual examination, 
 till nearly the close of last century, usually received from the City 
 as a prize, a copy of the best edition of one of the classics. The 
 first portion of this article contains a list, so far as we have been 
 able to give it in unbroken continuity, of the head-boys previous 
 to 1794, when the gold medal was first awarded. We would have 
 been glad to give, had it been in our power, a more complete 
 list. This may be done in a second edition, through the friendly 
 aid of those cognizant of the facts; and their corrections or 
 additions, if forwarded to our Publishers, will be gratefully re- 
 ceived. Alexander Tytler (afterwards Lord Woodhouselee) was 
 
 1 This formation of the plural of dux, though perhaps colloquially 
 peculiar to Scotland, we have retained in preference to duces. 
 
 i
 
 130 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF 
 
 dux of the Rector's Class in 1762 : he died January 5, 1814. 
 William Fraser, Minor, dux in 1766, became a Seal Engraver, 
 and a noted amateur collector of scarce books : he died March 
 5, 1829, aged 76. 
 
 1. Duxes from the year 1776 to 1793. 
 
 Masters. 1 
 
 1776 DAVID MILLER. BARTLET, NICOL. 
 
 Teacher of Languages, &c., Edinburgh. 
 Died March 13, 1816, aged 55. 
 
 1777 CHARLES HOPE. 2 
 
 Lord President of the Court of Session 
 in Scotland, from 1811 to 1841. A Privy 
 Councillor. 
 
 1778 JOHN BANANTINE. CRUICKSHAJJK. 
 
 A pupil of Heriot's Hospital. Died early 
 while a student at the Univ. 
 
 1779 ROBERT DICK. FRASER. 
 
 Died September 16, 1784, aged 19. 
 
 1 The name of the Classical Master or Masters in the High School under 
 whom the Dux studied, immediately before entering the Rector's Class. 
 
 2 On lately applying to the Right Hon. Charles Hope, who carried off 
 the highest honours of the school in 1777, that eminent and venerable 
 individual kindly communicated the following particulars, which cannot 
 be perused without interest : " Before I went to the Rector's Class of 
 the High School, I was about six years at a Boarding School at Enfield, 
 near London, kept by the Rev. Andrew Kinross, a Scotchman, and a 
 minister of the Episcopal Church, under whom also which is singular 
 my father was educated. I was not dux of the Rector's Class of 
 the High School the first year I was in it. I was only third; the 
 dux that year (1776) was a very remarkable boy, David Miller, stone 
 blind, having lost his sight by the small-pox when he was quite an in- 
 fant. He afterwards married, and supported his wife and family cre- 
 ditably by teaching privately, not only Greek and Latin, but also Music, 
 and, what was more extraordinary, Mathematics. The 2d dux was a boy 
 of the name of Bartlet who died very young, and whose father had been 
 formerly one of the Masters of the High School ; and, as already men- 
 tioned, I was third."
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 131 
 
 Masters. 
 
 1780 ANDREW STOKIE. NICOL. 
 
 Writer to H. M. Signet, 1794. 
 
 1781 JAMES BROWN. FRENCH. 
 
 Shortly after quitting the school he sailed 
 for India, but he never landed the vessel 
 in which he went passenger having taken 
 fire and exploded in Madras Roads. 
 
 1782 ARTHUR FORREST. CRUICKSHANK. 
 
 Bred to the legal profession. Died March 
 3, 1818. 
 
 1783 JAMES BUCHAN. FKASER. 
 
 An eminent Army Physician, served in 
 Egypt and the Peninsula. Died Feb- 
 ruary 12, 1834. 
 
 1784 JOSHUA-MIDDLETON CLOWES. 
 
 From England. 
 
 1785 WILLIAM FORBES. NICOL. 
 
 Afterwards 7th Baronet of Pitsligo, 
 Banker, Edinburgh. Died October 24, 
 1828. 
 
 1786 JOHN WAUGH. CRUICKSHANK. 
 
 Bookseller and Publisher, Edinburgh ; 
 and repeatedly one of the Magistrates of 
 the City. Now resident at Sydney, New 
 South Wales. 
 
 1787 THOMAS-ERSKINE SUTHERLAND. FRASER. 
 
 A pupil of Heriot's Hospital. Merchant, 
 Edinburgh. Died December 28, 1826. 
 
 1788 CHARLES CUNNINGHAM. NICOL. 
 
 Writer to H. M. Signet, 1808 ; and one 
 of the City Clerks of Edinburgh.
 
 132 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF 
 
 [APP. 
 
 1789 GEORGE Ross. 
 
 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1797. 
 
 1790 PATRICK WISHART. 
 
 Writer to H. M. Signet, 1802. 
 Nov. 26, 1831. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 CHRISTISON. 
 
 CRITICKSHANK. 
 
 Died 
 
 PHASER. 
 
 1791 HENRY-PETER BROUGHAM. 
 
 Now Baron Brougham and Vaux. Lord 
 Chancellor of England from 1830 to 
 1834. 
 
 " Lord Brougham only attended a 
 month or two of his first year at the Rec- 
 tor's Class, viz. October and November 
 1789. During the rest of that session 
 he was absent through illness, as the 
 books state. But he returned in Oc- 
 tober 1790, and remained till August 
 1791, when he left it, being dux of the 
 year at the public examination. Mr 
 Homer was in the class that year, 1791, 
 and remained in 1792, when he also left 
 it as dux." (Extract from a communi- 
 cation with which Lord Brougham re- 
 cently honoured the author.) 
 
 1792 FRANCIS HoRNER. 1 
 
 M.P. for St Mawes. After a brief but 
 brilliant parliamentary career, Mr Homer 
 died February 8th, 1817. A marble statue 
 by Chantrey, has been placed in West- 
 minster Abbey ; on the pedestal of which 
 the following inscription, from the pen 
 
 1 See " Memoir and Correspondence of Francis Horner, M.P., Edited 
 by his brother, Leonard Horner, Esq., F.E.S. Lond. 1843, 2 vols. 
 8vo. 
 
 NlCOL.
 
 NO. Vlir.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 133 
 
 of Lord Morpeth, the late Earl of Carlisle, is 
 inscribed : 
 
 To the Memory of 
 FRANCIS HORNER, 
 
 Who, by the union of great and various acquirements, 
 With inflexible integrity and unwearied devotion 
 
 To the interests of the country, 
 Raised himself to an eminent station in society, 
 
 And was justly considered to be one of the 
 Most distinguished members of the House of Commons. 
 
 He was born at Edinburgh in 1778, 
 
 Was called to the Bar, both of England and Scotland, 
 
 And closed his short but useful life at Pisa in 1817. 
 
 His death was deeply felt 
 
 And publicly deplored in Parliament. 
 
 His affectionate friends and sincere admirers, 
 
 Anxious that some memorial should exist 
 
 Of merits universally acknowledged, 
 
 Of expectations which a premature death 
 
 Could alone have frustrated, erected this Monument, 
 
 A. D. 1823. 
 
 1793 ALEXANDER SCOTT. CHRISTISON. 
 
 Eector of Bootle and Whicham. Died 
 at Bootle, Cumberland, Sept. 30, 1847, 
 aged 68. 
 
 2. Murray (now Macgregor) Medallists for LATIN. 
 
 * When a star precedes the name of a Dux, it denotes that he 
 carried off more than one medal at the School. The appoint- 
 ments which he afterwards occupied or still fills are then briefly 
 enumerated. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 1794 WILLIAM TAYLOR. CRUICKSHANK. 
 
 M.P. for Barnstaple in Devonshire, 
 from 1807 to 1812. Resident in Bel- 
 gium.
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF 
 
 1795 1 JOHN-HENRY WISHART. 
 
 Surgeon to the King for Scotland, and an 
 eminent Oculist. Died June 9, 1834, 
 aged fifty-three years. 
 
 1796 ARCHIBALD-JERDON CAVERHILL. 
 
 Of Bonjedward in the County of Rox- 
 burgh. Died November 12, 1842. 
 
 1797 ALEXANDER AIRMAN. 
 
 Of Birnam Wood and Wallenford in St 
 George's Parish, Jamaica. Proprietor 
 and Editor of the Jamaica Royal Gazette, 
 and Printer to the Honourable House of 
 Assembly. Died April 11, 1831. 
 
 1798 THOMAS WALKER. 
 
 Educated by Mr Thomas Girdwood, at 
 the parish school of Polmont, before en- 
 tering the Rector's Class. Physician to 
 the British Embassy at St Petersburgh 
 from 1815 to 1831 . Dr Walker (of Pol- 
 mont Bank, Stirlingshire), who is Phy- 
 sician to the Forces, now resides in Lon- 
 don. 
 
 1799 ROBERT-PATERSON ROLLO. 
 
 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1808. 
 
 1800 SAMCEL M'CORMICK. 
 
 Previously educated by Mr William 
 Laing, M.A., father of Major A. G. Laing, 
 the African traveller. Mr Laing was the 
 first who opened an academy for classical 
 
 [APP. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 FRASER. 
 
 NICOL. 
 
 CHRISTISOK. 
 
 FRASER. 
 
 i A silver medal was given in 1795 by Mr Cririe, Master of the third 
 class, to JAMES SINCLAIR, awarded to him, as the most deserving, by the 
 votes of his fellow scholars.
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 
 
 education in the New Town of Edin- 
 burgh ; and where, as one of the most 
 popular teachers of his day, he laboured 
 for thirty-two years. 
 
 Mr M'Cormick is the only pupil who 
 gained this gold medal at the close of the 
 first year's attendance at the Rector's 
 Class. He became Sheriff-Depute of the 
 County of Bute, and died June 4, 1834. 
 
 1801 SIB GEORGE CLERK OF PENICUIK, BART. 
 A Privy Councillor, and late Secretary 
 to the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury. 
 M.P. for Dover. 
 
 135 
 
 Masters. 
 
 CHRISTISON. 
 
 1802 WILLIAM-STUART BEATSON. RITCHIE. 
 
 Afterwards Commissary-General, Bengal 
 Army. Died April 13, 1837, on his pas- 
 sage from India to England. 
 
 1803 ALEIANDER-DCNDAS- YOUNG AfiBUTHNOTT. FRASER. 
 
 He entered the Navy shortly before the 
 battle of Trafalgar, at which engagement 
 he served on board the Mars. In 1824 
 he was promoted to a Captaincy in the 
 R. N. Having served as a Colonel in 
 the British Legion in Spain in 1837, 
 he received the Cross of the Spanish 
 order of Charles III., and third class of 
 San Fernando. 
 
 1804 GEORGE FORBES. RITCHIE. 
 
 Banker in Edinburgh. 
 
 1805 ANDREW RUTHERFURD. CHRISTISOX. 
 
 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1812. At 
 present Lord Advocate of Scotland, and 
 M.P. for Leith, &c.
 
 136 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF 
 
 [AIT. 
 
 3806 
 
 1807 
 
 1808 
 
 1809 
 
 HENRY BIGGAR. 
 
 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1815. 
 May 14, 1817. 
 
 Died 
 
 MUNGO-PONTON BROWN. 
 
 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1816. Au- 
 thor of a " Treatise on the Law of Sale," 
 8vo, and of a " General Synopsis of the 
 Decisions of the Court of Session." 
 4 vols. 4to. Died November 18, 1832. 
 
 JOHN STAINTON. 
 
 Educated by Mr William Brown, at the 
 Grammar School, Falkirk. Called to 
 the Scottish Bar in 1816. Died Sept. 
 20, 1832. 
 
 WILLIAM BAIN. 
 
 Student in Law. Died March 31, 1815, 
 aged nineteen. See CHAP. IV. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 GRAY. 
 
 FRASER. 
 
 CARSON. 
 
 JAMES PILLANS, M.A., F.R.S.E., Rector. 
 
 1810 ROBERT KNOX. GRAY, ADAM, R. 
 
 M.D. Lecturer on Anatomy and Phy- 
 siology, Edinburgh ; now in London. 
 
 1811 ARCHIBALD-NlSBET CARMICHAEL. ADAM, R, 
 
 Educated by Mr William Brown, at the 
 Grammar School, Falkirk. 
 
 One of the Classical Masters in the 
 Edinburgh New Academy ; and author 
 of a valuable work on the Greek Verb. 
 Died January 8, 1847. 
 
 1812 JOHN CAMPBELL. RITCHIE. 
 
 Younger of Succoth. Called to the Scot-
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 
 
 tish Bar in 1821. M.P. for Dumbarton- 
 shire. Died July 3, 1830. 
 
 1813 WILLIAM GULLET*. 
 
 One of the Physicians to the Royal In- 
 firmary, Edinburgh. Died May 28, 1828. 
 
 1814 CHARLES NEAVES. 
 
 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1822. 
 Sheriff of Orkney and Shetland, 1845. 
 
 1815 *JOHN EDMONDSTON. 
 
 Minister of Ashkirk, Selkirkshire, 1837 ; 
 and of the Free Church in the same 
 parish since the Secession in 1843. 
 
 1816 ROBERT MENZIES. 
 
 Educated at the Grammar School of 
 Lanark, by Mr John Harkness. Minis- 
 ter of Hoddam, Dumfries-shire, 1834. 
 
 1817 WILLIAM GLOVER. 
 
 Educated at the High School of Leith, 
 by Mr John Bayne. Minister of Green- 
 side Parish, Edinburgh, 1837. 
 
 1818 * GEORGE-WILLIAM MYLNE. 
 
 Educated previously at the school of the 
 Rev. Joseph Benson, Hounslow, Middle- 
 sex. Called to the Scottish Bar in 1826. 
 Resident at Cheltenham. 
 
 1819 *EDMOND LOGAN. 
 
 Writer to H. M. Signet, 1830. 
 
 1820 *JOHN-BROWN PATTERSON. 
 
 From 1810 to 1814 he attended the 
 Classical Academy of Mr Benjamin 
 Mackay (afterwards one of the Masters of 
 
 137 
 
 Masters. 
 
 CARSON. 
 
 GRAY. 
 
 IRVINE. 
 
 IRVINE.
 
 138 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [API*. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 the High School); and from 1815 to 
 1818 he was a pupil of the late Mr Wil- 
 liam Graham, Rector of the Grammar 
 School, Haddington. Mr Patterson car- 
 ried the prize of one hundred guineas 
 proposed by the Royal Commissioners 
 for visiting the Universities of Scotland, 
 for the best essay " On the Character of 
 the Athenians," 1827. This essay was 
 published on the recommendation of the 
 Royal Commission. Minister of the 
 Parish of Falkirk, 1830 : died June 29, 
 1835. See " Discourses by the late Rev. 
 John B. Patterson, A.M. ; to which is 
 prefixed a Memoir of his Life, and Select 
 Literary and Religious Remains." 2 vols. 
 Edinb. 1837. 8vo. 
 
 AGLIONBY-ROSS CARSON, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.E., 
 F.S.A. SCOT., Rector. 
 
 1821 PATRICK-CAMPBELL M'DOUGALL. CARSON. 
 
 Professor of Moral Philosophy in the 
 Free Church College, Edinburgh, 1844. 
 
 1822 WiLLiAM-IlRQUHART ARBUTHNOT. CARSOX 
 
 H. E. I. Company's Civil Service, Viza- 
 gapatam. Now Merchant, Madras. 
 
 1823 WILLIAM-MAXWELL 
 
 Previously educated by Mr Peter Scott, 
 then of Thistle Street Academy, Edin- 
 burgh, but who for many years has been 
 
 1 In 1825 the gold medal, value ten guineas, given by the Writers to 
 the Signet to the best scholar in the Senior Humanity Class, University 
 of Edinburgh, was awarded to W. M. Gunn (the first who obtained this 
 prize). It may here be mentioned, that the following pupils of the High
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 139 
 
 Masters. 
 
 the able Classical Teacher in the Royal 
 Academy, Inverness. Mr Gunn was ap- 
 pointed one of the Classical Masters of 
 the High School of Edinburgh in 1843. 
 
 1824 WILLIAM GOWAN. LINDSAY. 
 
 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1831 . Now 
 an English Barrister, and resident in 
 London. 
 
 1825 ANDREW-ALEXANDER BONAR. CARSON, MACKAY. 
 
 One of the Deputation of a Mission of 
 Inquiry to the Jews from the Church 
 of Scotland to Palestine in 1839; now 
 Minister of the Free Church, Collace, 
 Perthshire. 
 
 1826 *Joim MILLAR. GRAY, PYPER. 
 
 Classical Tutor, Free Church College, 
 Edinburgh, 1844. 
 
 1827 * GEORGE- ANDERSON TAYLOR. IRVINE. 
 
 Student in Divinity. Died at Carfrae, 
 East Lothian, April 10, 1835. 
 
 1828 *JoiiN SMITH. LINDSAY. 
 
 Now a Surgeon in Australia. 
 
 1829 *JOSEPH CAUVIN. MACKAY. 
 
 Ph. D. (Gb'ttingen Univ.), Co-editor with 
 Professor Brande, of the Dictionary of 
 Arts, Science, and Literature. Resident 
 in London. 
 
 School have subsequently gained that medal : 1826 William Gowan ; 
 1827 Andrew-Alexander Sonar ; 1828 James Moncreiff; 1829 George- 
 Anderson Taylor; 1832 John-Wilson Nicholson; 1836 James Milne ; 
 1839 William Shaw ; 1841 David Sinclair ; 1843 Donald-Campbell 
 Gordon ; 1845 John Fowler ; 1846 Andrew Mure ; 1847 Robert Demaus.
 
 140 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF 
 
 [APP. 
 
 1830 *JoiiN- WILSON NICHOLSON. 
 Solicitor, London. 
 
 1831 l * WILLIAM-HENRY GOOLD. 
 
 Minister of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church, Edinburgh, 1840. 
 
 1832 *THOMAS-SCOTT BORTHWICK. 
 
 He was second dux at the annual ex- 
 amination of his first year's attendance 
 at the Rector's. Died April 22, 1839, 
 aged 21. 
 
 1833 * WILLIAM NELSON. 
 
 Publisher, Edinburgh. 
 
 1834 JAMES MILNE. 
 
 Student in Divinity. Died June 21, 
 1839, aged 22. 
 
 1835 *JOHN RENTON. 
 
 Minister of the Free Church, Auchter- 
 muchty, Fife, 1843. 
 
 1836 * WILLIAM WILSON. 
 
 Head Master of the Government School 
 of Industry at Norwood. Died Novem- 
 ber 15, 1847. 
 
 1837 JAMES-MACGROUTHER RUSSELL. 
 
 Student in Divinity. Died April 9, 1844, 
 aged 21. 
 
 Masters. 
 PYl'EK. 
 
 IRVINE. 
 
 LINDSAY. 
 
 MACK AY. 
 
 Bo YD. 
 
 BOYD. 
 
 LINDSAY. 
 
 MACKAY. 
 
 i Dr Carson presented a gold medal, of equal value to that given to the 
 Dux, to THOMAS BRAIDWOOD (who died June 8, 1834, aged 17), as he 
 was not allowed to compete for the Macgregor prize in 1831, because 
 it was his third year in the Hector's Class. The name on the Gold 
 Medal was changed in 1831 from Murray to Macgregor. See CHAP, 
 III.
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 141 
 
 Masters. 
 
 1838 JAMES SANDERS. PYPER. 
 
 Sugar Planter, Monghyr, Upper India. 
 
 1 839 ! * JOHN MACLAREN. Bo YD. 
 
 Minister of the United Parishes of Lar- 
 bert and Dunipace, 1847. 
 
 1 840 2 * WILLIAM STARK, afterwards STARK-DOU- 
 GALL, younger of Scotscraig, near New- 
 port, Fife. He commenced Latin in 
 France at thirteen years of age, and 
 studied successively under MM. Calais, 
 Eosenvelt, and Ferret at Lebourne, in 
 the department of Gironde. Before 
 joining the Rector's Class in October 
 1838, he received instructions from Mr 
 James Milne, the Macgregor medallist of 
 1834. Student in Medicine: died May 
 27, 1847, aged 24. 
 
 1841 * JOHN DOUGALL. MACKAY. 
 
 Student in Literature, Univ. of Edinburgh. 
 
 1842 *EOBERT-SHAW H0TTON. PYPER. 
 
 M. A., and Student in Divinity, Edinburgh 
 University. 
 
 1 843 3 PETER-GRAY WHITE. BOYD. 
 
 Student of Divinity in the United Pres- 
 byterian Church. 
 
 1 At the public examination in 1839, Mr Mackay presented a medal 
 to *JOHN DOUGALL (afterwards the Macgregor medallist in 1841), dux 
 of his Fourth Class. 
 
 3 The dux of the Latin and Greek Classes in 1840 was GEORGE- 
 SMOULT FAGAN ; but the Patrons held, as on a former occasion, that 
 he could not compete for the medals, because he had attended the 
 Rector for a portion of three years. 
 
 3 In 1843 Mr Mackay gave a medal to *Jonx GLEN, dux of the 
 Fourth Class.
 
 3 42 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [API'. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 1844 * ANDREW MURE. LINDSAY. 
 
 M.A., Univ. of Edinb., 1848. 
 
 1845 *PETER COSENS. MACKAY. 
 
 Student in Law, Edinburgh. 
 
 LEONHARD SCHMITZ, Ph. D. F.R.S.E., Rector. 
 
 1846 *ALEXANDER MUIR. PYPER. 
 
 Student in Literature, Edinburgh. 
 
 1847 * CHRISTOPHER-RUSSELL SCOTT. Bo YD. 
 
 Student in Literature, Edinburgh. 
 
 1848 *ROBERT JOHNSTON. GUNN. 
 
 Student in Literature, Edinburgh. 
 
 3. City Medallists for GREEK in the Rector's Class. 
 JAMES PLLLANS, M.A., F.R.S.E., Rector. 
 
 1814 ALEXANDER Ross. GRAY. 
 
 Resident in Dresden. 
 
 1815 *JOHN EDMONDSTON. See p. 137. IRVINE. 
 
 1816 *GEORGE NAPIER. CARSON. 
 
 1817 ^GEORGE NAPIER. CARSON. 
 
 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1823. 
 Sheriff of Peebles, 1840. 
 
 1 Mr Pillans, in 1817, presented a gold medal to the best Geographer 
 in the Rector's Class. It was gained by HENBY-DCNDAS DRUMMOND, 
 who is now in India, and holds rank in the army as Major.
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 1 4:> 
 
 Masters. 
 
 1818 * GEORGE- WILLIAM MYLNE. See p. 137. 
 
 1819 JOHN PRINGLE. 
 
 Educated at the Classical Academy of 
 Mr John Lawrie, 1 Richmond Street, 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Minister of the First United Secession 
 (now the United Presbyterian) Church, 
 Elgin, 1829. 
 
 1820 * JOHN-BROWN PATTERSON. See p. 137. 
 
 JAMES GRAY, M.A., Teacher of Greek. See CHAP. IV. 
 
 1821 ARCHIBALD HOG. CARSON. 
 
 Student in Literature. Died November 
 6, 1822, in his 19th year. 
 
 In 1821 Mr Gray presented gold medals 
 of equal value to JAMES WILLIAMSON, se- 
 cond dux of the Senior Greek Class ; to 
 JAMES MYLNE, dux of the second division 
 of the Senior Greek Class ; and to WIL- 
 LIAM FORSTER, dux of the Junior Greek 
 Class. 
 
 AGLIONBY-ROSS CARSON, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.E., 
 
 F.S.A. SCOT., Rector. 
 
 1822 WILLIAM MIRTLE. 
 
 Educated previously at the Grammar 
 School of Peebles, during the Rector- 
 
 ' Mr Lawrie, an excellent scholar and a successful teacher, died 
 September 10, 1840.
 
 144 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF 
 
 ship of Mr James Sloaue. Died Nov. 1, 
 1828. 
 
 1823 JOHN MURRAY. 
 
 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1831. Of 
 Murrayshall, Perthshire. 
 
 1824 BASIL BELL. 
 
 Previously educated by Mr John Mac- 
 gregor, Parochial Teacher, Cockburns- 
 path. Since the year 1846 Mr Bell, who 
 is a Licentiate of the Church of Scotland, 
 has been Classical Teacher, and Lecturer 
 on Logic, Rhetoric, and Moral Philo- 
 sophy, in the New Academy, Pictou, 
 Nova Scotia. 
 
 1825 JOHN THOMSON. 
 
 Minister of the Mariners' Free Church, 
 Leith, 1840. 
 
 [APP. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 IRVINE. 
 
 MACKAY. 
 
 1826 *JOHN MILLAR. See p. 139. GRAY, PYPER. 
 
 1827 * GEORGE- ANDERSON TAYLOR. See p. 139. IRVINE. 
 
 1828 DAVID OGILVY. LINDSAY. 
 
 Barrister, London. 
 
 1829 *JOSEPH CAUVIN. See p. 139. MACKAY. 
 
 1830 *JOHN-WILSON NICHOLSON. See p. 140 PYPER. 
 
 1831 GEORGE-SMYTTAN DAVIDSON. IRVINE. 
 
 A Licentiate of the Church of Scotland, 
 1842. Rector of the Normal Institution, 
 Edinburgh, 1845. 
 
 1832 *TnoMAS-ScoTT BORTHWICK. See p. 140. LL\DSAY.
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 
 
 145 
 
 1833 *WBLLIAM NELSON. See p. 140. 
 
 1834 *JOHN YOUNG. 
 
 Sugar and Indigo Planter, Presidency of 
 Madras. 
 
 1835 *JoHN RE.NTON. See p. 140. 
 
 1836 JAMES FERRIER. 
 
 Educated at the Classical Academy of 
 his maternal uncle, Mr John Lawrie, 
 Edinburgh. Student in Literature : died 
 at Little Paisley, near Edinburgh, Fe- 
 bruary 26, 1839, aged 21. 
 
 1837 WILLIAM SHAW. 
 
 B.A. and M.A. At the University of 
 Edinburgh Mr Shaw carried off the gold 
 medal in the Moral Philosophy Class, 
 decided by general excellence in Essay- 
 writing. In 1843 he gained the gold 
 medal given by the Students of the Uni- 
 versity of Edinburgh for the best Essay 
 " On the Moral tendency of the Protes- 
 tant doctrine of Justification, by faith 
 alone." This prize, opened to all Stu- 
 dents of Theology that year, was decided 
 by the Senatus Academicus. In 1 847 Mr 
 Shaw became Minister of the Parish of 
 Bonhill, Dumbartonshire 
 
 1838 l THOMAS-MILLER DICKSON. 
 
 In the year 1841 he gained the silver 
 
 Masters. 
 
 MACKAT. 
 PYPEE. 
 
 BOYJX 
 
 MACKAY. 
 
 PYPER. 
 
 1 The dux of the Greek Class in 1838 was ROBERT MACKENZIE, (now 
 an officer in the Indian army), but the Magistrates and Town Council, 
 who bestow the medal, held that he was ineligible, because he had 
 attended the Rector's Class for a part of three sessions. To T. M. 
 DICKSON, who was next in merit, the medal was, hi consequence, ad- 
 judged. 
 
 k
 
 146 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF 
 
 medal in the Moral Philosophy Class in 
 the University of Edinburgh. In 1843 
 he carried off the gold medal given by 
 the Students, and open to all the Facul- 
 ties, for the University Prize Essay, " On 
 the Differences between Ancient and 
 Modern Civilization." In 1844 he ob- 
 tained " the highest scholarship in Clare 
 Hall, after an examination of three days, 
 on the whole range of Latin and Greek 
 Literature, and by Composition in Latin 
 and Greek, prose and verse." B.A. of the 
 University of Cambridge. Now Senior 
 Classical Master of King Edward's 
 School, Marlborough, Wiltshire. 
 
 1839 *JOHN MACLAREN. See p. 141. 
 
 1840 *WILLIAM STARK. See p. 141. 
 
 1841 ROBERT SCOTT. 
 
 Educated, previously to his joining Dr 
 Carson's Class, by Mr Alexander Burnet, 
 Rector of the Grammar School, Jedburgh. 
 Farmer, Newton, parish of Bedrule. 
 
 1842 *ROBERT-SHAW HUTTON. See p. 141. 
 
 1843 JOHN FOWLER. 
 
 Scholar of Queen's College, Cambridge. 
 
 1844 * ANDREW MURE. See p. 142. 
 
 1845 *PETER COSENS. See p. 142. 
 
 [API-. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 BOYD. 
 
 PTPER. 
 BOYD. 
 
 LINDSAY. 
 MACKAY.
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 
 
 147 
 
 LEONHAED SCHMITZ, Ph. D., F.R.S.E., Rector. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 1846 1 * ALEXANDER MUIB. See p. 142. PTPER. 
 
 1847 * CHRISTOPHER-RUSSELL SCOTT. See p. 142. BOYD. 
 
 1848 *ROBERT JOHNSTON. See p. 142. GUNN. 
 
 4. Macdonald or THIRD Class Medallists. 
 
 1824 JOHN WHTTE. IRVINE. 
 
 Student in Divinity : died July 22, 1831, 
 aged 21. 
 
 1825 * GEORGE COTTON. LINDSAY. 
 
 Solicitor before the Supreme Courts of 
 Scotland, 1839. 
 
 1826 * JOSEPH CAUVIN. See p. 139. MACKAT. 
 
 1827 * JOHN- WILSON NICHOLSON. See p. 140. PYPER. 
 
 1828 *WILLIAM-HENRY GOOLD. See p. 140. IRVINE. 
 
 1829 *JOHN BAILLIE. LINDSAY. 
 
 Minister of Fogo, Berwickshire, 1841 ; 
 and Minister of the Free Church, Lin- 
 lithgow, since 1843. 
 
 1830 JAMES- ALEXANDER HUIE. MACKAY. 
 
 Minister of the Presbyterian Church, 
 Wooler, 1844. 
 
 1 At the annual distribution of the prizes in 1846, Dr Schmitz, the 
 Rector, after the City gold medal for Greek had been given, presented 
 JAMES-NOBLE BENNIE (now at the University of Glasgow), with a gold 
 medal of equal value, for his high attainments as a Greek scholar.
 
 148 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF 
 
 1831 *JOHN YOUNG. See p. 145. 
 
 1832 WILLIAM MILLIGAN. 
 
 Minister of the parish of Cameron, Fife, 
 
 1844. 
 
 I 
 
 1833 *THOMAS-MOLLETT HASWELL. 
 
 Died at Chelsea, March 10, 1841, in his 
 22d year, whilst training for the Wesleyan 
 ministry. See a " Memoir of Mr Thomas 
 M. Haswell. By the Rev. Philip C. 
 Turner." Lond. 1843, 18mo. 
 
 1834 WILLIAM MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Chemist and Druggist. 
 
 Drowned at New York, August 25, 
 1843, in saving his sister-in-law, who, 
 whilst bathing, had been carried away by 
 the current. He sunk from exhaustion, 
 before reaching the shore. 
 
 1835 DAVID SINCLAIR. 
 
 Missionary from the Free Church, Cal- 
 cutta. 
 
 1836 ALEXANDER LAURIE. 
 
 Teacher of Music, Edinburgh. See " Ac- 
 count of the Edinburgh Sessional School," 
 p. 160, 4th edit. 
 
 1837 * ANDREW CAMERON. 
 
 Editor of the Christian Treasury, Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 1838 ALEXANDER (DAVID) ROBERTSON. 
 
 Merchant, Leith. 
 
 [ATP. 
 
 Masters. 
 
 PYPER. 
 BOTD. 
 
 LINDSAY. 
 
 MACKAY. 
 
 PYPER. 
 
 Bo YD. 
 
 LINDSAY. 
 
 MACKAY. 
 
 1839 *ROBERT-SHAW BUTTON. See pp. 141, 146. PYPER.
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 
 
 149 
 
 1840 JOHN CUTHBERTSON. 
 
 Student in Law, Edinburgh. 
 
 1841 * JONATHAN BATES. 
 
 On leaving Scotland Mr Bates entered 
 Huddersfield College, where, in 1842, he 
 was the successful competitor for the 
 Mathematical Medal, awarded to the first 
 in the Senior Class. At the same dis- 
 tribution he received a medal for English 
 Verse. In 1843 the first Classical Medal 
 was presented to him ; and in the follow- 
 ing year he got Lord Morpeth's Gold 
 Medal for an Essay, the subject being, 
 "Knowledge is its own Reward." In the 
 Calendar of the London University, of 
 which he is a member, his name holds an 
 honourable place. Mr Bates is at pre- 
 sent a Master in Huddersfield College. 
 
 1842 *JOHN GLEN. 
 
 Student in Literature, Edinburgh. 
 
 1843 * ALEXANDER MUIR. See p. 147. 
 
 1844 * CHRISTOPHER-RUSSELL SCOTT. See p. 147. 
 
 1845 *WILLIAM L. LINDSAY. 
 
 Masters. 
 BOYD. 
 
 LINDSAY. 
 
 MACKAY. 
 
 PYPER. 
 BOYD. 
 GCNN. 
 
 1 846 JOHN FRASER. 
 
 1847 EDWARD-LITTLE NELSON. 
 
 1848 JOHN YOUNG. 
 
 W. W. CARMICHAEL. 
 
 MACMILLAN. 
 
 BOYD.
 
 150 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OP [APP. 
 
 5. Ritchie Gold Medallists. 
 SAMUEL LINDSAY, M.A.,' Master. 
 
 1824 *GEORGE COTTON. 
 
 1825 *GEORGE COTTON. See p. 147. 
 
 1826 *JOHN SMITH. See p. 139. 
 
 1827 *JOHN BAILLIE. See p. 147. 
 
 1828 * THOMAS-SCOTT BORTHWICK. See pp. 140, 144. 
 
 1829 *JOHN BAILLTE. Same as 1827 
 
 1830 *JOHN BAILLIE. Same as 1827. 
 
 1831 *THOMAS-MOLLETT HASWELL. See p. 148. 
 
 1832 * WILLIAM WILSON. 
 
 1833 *WILLIAM WILSON. 
 
 1834 * WILLIAM WILSON. See p. 140. 
 
 1835 * ANDREW CAMERON. 
 
 1836 * ANDREW CAMERON. 
 
 1837 * ANDREW CAMERON. See p. 148. 
 
 1838 ALEXANDER THOMSON. 
 
 Student in Divinity, Free Church Col- 
 lege, Edinburgh. 
 
 1839 * JONATHAN BATES.
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 151 
 
 1840 *JONATHAN BATES. 
 
 1841 * JONATHAN BATES. See p. 148. 
 
 1842 ROBERT-CHARLES-HENRY MACDUFF. 
 
 Student in Divinity, Edinb. Univ. 
 
 1843 WILLIAM PAUL. 
 
 Student in Literature, Edinb. Univ. 
 
 WILLIAM-MAXWELL GUNN, Master. 
 
 1844 *WlLLIAM-LAWRIE LlNDSAY. 
 
 1845 *WILLIAM-LAWRIE LINDSAY. See p. 149. 
 
 1 846 *ROBERT JOHNSTON. See pp. 142, 147. 
 
 1847 *GEORGE SMITH. 
 
 1848 * GEORGE SMITH. 
 
 6. College-Bailie Medallists for Writing. 
 
 * The College-Bailie Silver Medal for Writing, the personal 
 gift of the gentleman holding that office for the year, was first 
 presented in 1814, and for the last time in 1834. 
 
 ANDREW M'KEAN, Master* 
 
 College-Bailies. 
 
 1814 ANDREW CROMBIE. ROB. JOHNSTON. 
 
 i Mr MTiean, at the annual examination, also presented a silver 
 medal, during his Mastership, to the following pupils of his classes in the 
 High School : 
 
 1802 James Marshall; 1803 James-Saunders Robertson ; 1804 William
 
 152 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF [APP. 
 
 College-Bailies. 
 
 1815 BENJAMIN- WILLIAM CROMBIE. THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 Artist and Miniature Painter, Edinburgh. 
 Died June 10, 1847. 
 
 1816 *EDMOND LOGAN. See p. 137. ALEX. SMELLIE. 
 
 The Lord Provost and Magistrates ad- 
 judged another medal to GEORGE-KEITH- 
 ELPHINSTONE JOHNSTONE, from Man- 
 chester, in consequence of the very near 
 approximation of the two specimens in 
 excellence. 
 
 1817 GAVIN MILEOY. WALTER BROWN. 
 
 M.D. University of Edinburgh, 1828. 
 
 1818 THOMAS PATULLO. ROB. ANDERSON. 
 
 Died May 31, 1824, aged 19. 
 
 1819 HENRY LOGAN. WILLIAM PATISON. 
 
 Merchant in London, where he died April 
 25, 1838. 
 
 1820 JOHN COLDSTREAM. JOHN CHARLES. 
 
 Physician, Edinburgh. 
 
 1821 RICHARD DENNISTOUN. KENNETH MACKENZIE. 
 
 Writer to the Signet, 1829. Died at 
 Glasgow, March 20, 1848. 
 
 1822 THOMAS CORNWALL. KENNETH MACKENZIE. 
 
 Writer to the Signet, 1829. Died June 
 2, 1833. 
 
 Junor from Antigua; 1805 John Crow; 1806 George Forrest; 1807 
 Walter Jollie ; 1808 Neil Gow; 1809 David Mill; 1810 Hamilton Pyper ; 
 1811 Alex. Inglis ; 1812 Arch. Nimmo ; 1813 Martin Marshall ; 1814 
 Gavin Milroy ; 1815 John Marshall ; 1816 Samuel Wordsworth ; 1817 
 David Scott ; 1818 John Auchenleck ; 1819 Robert Young ; 1820 John 
 M'Dougall; 1821 Robert Milroy ; 1822 Charles-Cheyne Allison; 1823 
 George Child ; 1824 James Young.
 
 NO. VIII.] THE MEDALLISTS OR DUXES. 153 
 
 College -Bailies. 
 
 1822 JOHN ABEKCROMBY. JOHN SMITH. 
 
 Surgeon, Burntisland. 
 
 1823 WILLIAM-THOMAS TROTTER. JAMES HILL. 
 
 H.E.I.C. Civil Service. 
 
 1824 WILLIAM-DOUGLAS HANNAY. WM. ALLAN. 
 
 Cornet in the Bengal 3d Regiment of 
 Light Cavalry. Died at Kurnaul, Dec. 
 2, 1836, in his 37th year. In testimony 
 of their esteem his Brother Officers erect- 
 ed a Monument to his Memory, in the 
 Church of Kurnaul. 
 
 1825 JAMES-RANALD BURT. ROB. MORTON. 
 
 Captain, Bengal Cavalry. In the tran- 
 sept of St Giles' Church, Edinburgh, an 
 elegant Marble Cenotaph, in honour of 
 this lamented officer, bears the following 
 inscription : " Sacred to the Memory of 
 Captain James-Ranald Burt, of the 6th 
 Regiment Bengal Light Cavalry, who 
 died at Ferozepore, 8th May 1846, aged 
 35 years. This Tablet was erected by 
 his Brother Officers as a memorial of their 
 sorrow for the death of one who possessed 
 their regard and esteem ; one, whose high 
 principles and chivalrous honour, ren- 
 dered him an ornament to his profession, 
 and a pride to the Corps to which he 
 belonged." 
 
 1826 GEORGE SHAW. JOHN BONAR. 
 
 1827 THOMAS MACKNIOHT. ADAM LUKE. 
 
 Physician, Dumfries. 
 
 1828 JOHN TURNBULL. ARCH. LAWRIE. 
 
 General Agent, Edinburgh.
 
 154 LIST OF THE [API'. 
 
 ALEXANDER M'KEAN, Master. 
 
 College-Bailies. 
 
 1829 EDWARD WARREN. THOS. CEICHTON. 
 
 1830 JAMES STEWABT. JOHN ANDERSON. 
 
 1831 GEORGE MONTGOMERY. ALEX. Ross. 
 
 Merchant, New York. 
 
 1832 ALEXANDER-EDWARD MACKNIGHT. GEO. ATTCHISON. 
 
 CaUed to the Scottish Bar in 1841. 
 
 1833 EDWARD-JAMES SIMPSON. JOHN PATTERSON. 
 
 Lieut H.E.I.C. Service. 
 
 1834 ROBERT-WlLLIAM DAVD3SON. THOMAS SAWERS. 
 
 No. IX. 
 
 List of ike printed Scholastic Exercises from 1821 to 1848. 
 
 * THIS list does not include the titles of those exercises of a 
 similar character which are given entire in a preceding por- 
 tion of our work. The name of the writer immediately follows 
 the title of each exercise. 
 
 RECTORSHIP OF DR CARSON. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1821 Valedictio. James Williamson. 1 
 
 1 Professor of Mathematics, Logic, and Natural Philosophy, Queen's 
 College, Kingston, Canada.
 
 NO, IX.] SCHOOL EXERCISES. 155 
 
 1822 1 In Georgii Quarti Regis Britannic! Diem Natalem. 
 
 George Romanes. 2 
 Valedictio. W. U. Arbuthnot, dux. 
 
 1823 In Ver John Murray, dux of the Greek Class. 
 In Athenas. J. J. Plaine. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Remorse ; or, the Death of Sir Roland. A. K. Home. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1824 Sirenes. William Gowan, dux. 
 Valedictio. Edward-James Arbuthnot. 3 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Morning. Francis-Russell Davidson. 4 
 Power of Science. Cuthbert Davidson. 5 
 Summer. George M'Crie. 6 
 The Dying Bard's Farewell. David Smith. 7 
 Greece. James Romanes. 8 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1825 Grsecia se in libertatem vindicans John Thomson, dux 
 
 of the Greek Class. 
 Edina. Alexander Fiddes. 9 
 Mens Contenta. Andrew A. Bonar, dux. 
 
 1 John-Lawrence Stoddart, a pupil of Dr Carson for two sessions 
 (1820-22), went to the United States, where was soon published a volume 
 entitled, " Juvenile Effusions, in Verse and Prose ; composed at the 
 High School, Edinburgh, by J. L. S." Pp. 203. Cambridge, 1822, 12mo. 
 
 2 Professor of Classical Literature and Moral Philosophy, Queen's 
 College, Kingston, Canada. 
 
 * Merchant, Mauritius. 
 
 * Joint Magistrate and Deputy Collector, North Division, Delhi, India. 
 s Captain 66th Regt., Bengal Native Infantry. 
 
 6 Minister of the United Original Secession Church, Clola, Aberdeen- 
 shire. 
 
 7 Some time Surgeon, Peebles. 
 
 8 Died December 11, 1828. 
 
 9 Licentiate of the Church of Scotland. Died at Aberdeen, Sept. 25, 
 1838.
 
 156 LIST OF THE [API*. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Translation from Ovid, Trist. I. 2. 19. Benjamin (Ro- 
 bert) BelU 
 
 The Minstrel of Lacha. David Smith. 2 
 First-born. George M'Crie. 3 
 Marathon. F. R. Davidson. 4 
 
 LATIN VEKSE. 
 
 1826 In Italiam. John Millar, dux. 
 
 Vita? Rusticse Laudes. Thomas-Jackson Crawford. 5 
 Helvetia in libertatem vindicata. Thomas Wilson. 6 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Leonidas. Alexander Smith. 7 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1827 In Diluculum. John Hirst. 8 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1828 Somnium. George Cotton. 9 
 Ver. Robert Taylor. 1 *' 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Navarino. Sprott Boyd. 11 
 
 The Isle of Bliss. Thomas-Brown Dymock. 12 
 
 1 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1832 ; Sheriff Sub., and Com. Depute 
 for Kilmarnock District, Ayrshire. 
 
 2 See p. 155. 
 
 3 See p. 155. 
 
 4 See p. 155. 
 
 * D.D., and one of the Ministers of St. Andrew's Parish, Edinburgh. 
 Lieut. R.N. 
 
 7 Writer, Edinburgh. 
 
 8 Clerk in the National Bank of Scotland. Died Feb. 18, 1838, aged 25. 
 
 9 Solicitor before the Supreme Courts, Edinburgh. 
 
 10 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1836 ; now residing at Carfrae, Had- 
 dingtonshire. 
 
 " M.D., Weymouth. 
 12 Now in Australia.
 
 NO. IX.] SCHOOL EXERCISES. 157 
 
 The Captive. Alexander Peterkin. 1 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1829 Scotorum ad Bannocum Laudes. Joseph Cauvin, dux. 
 In Musicen. Robert Taylor. 2 
 
 Aurora. Robert Borrowman. 3 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 The Maniac. Sprott Boyd. 4 
 
 Translation of the Choral Ode to dissuade Medea from 
 
 murdering her children. Robert Borrowman. 3 
 The death of Hannibal. Alexander Peterkin. 1 
 A Valedictory to the Old High School. John I. C. 
 
 Lockhart. 5 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1830 Pax. William Braidwood. 6 
 
 In Afrorum Servitutem. George Small. 7 
 
 Ferise. William Husband. 8 
 
 Valedictio. John- Wilson Nicholson, dux. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 The Shipwreck. William Brown. 9 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1831 Bruma. Thomas Braidwood. 10 
 Ruris Laudes. David-Elliot Wilkie. 11 
 Libertas. William-Henry Goold, duos. 
 
 i Reporter for " The Times." 
 
 See p. 156. 
 
 3 Student in Divinity, University of Edinburgh. Died June 8, 1838. 
 
 * See p. 166. 
 
 8 Resident in Montreal. 
 
 8 Died January 10, 1836, aged 20. 
 
 7 Baptist Missionary at Benares, since 1840. 
 
 8 M.D., Edinburgh. 
 
 9 M.D., Melrose. 
 
 10 Died June 8, 1834, aged 17. 
 
 11 M.D. Now at Adelaide in Australia.
 
 158 LIST OF THE [APP. 
 
 Ver. George-Smyttan Davidson, dux of the Greek Class. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Song of the Highland Wizard. William Dickson. 1 
 The Tempest. Daniel Edward. 2 
 On Ambition. Robert S. Christie. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 Ruris Otium John Baillie. 3 
 
 Scotus, a Patria profugus, Uxori. Thomas-Scott Borth- 
 
 wick, dux. 
 Herculaneum. William Muir. 4 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Scotia. Thomas-Scott Borthwick, dux. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1833 Valedictio. William Nelson, dux. 
 Ver. Guthrie Watson. 5 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 The Close of the Year. Charles Dickson. 6 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1834 Diluvium. William Murray. 7 
 Libertas. James Milne, dux. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Contentment. James Mackay. 8 
 
 Mutabile Semper. Edward-James Simpson. 9 
 
 1 Wholesale Stationer, Edinburgh. 
 
 2 A pupil of Heriot's Hospital ; now Missionary from the Free Church 
 to the Jews at Jassy in Moldavia. 
 
 3 Macdonald and Ritchie Medallist. See APPENDIX No. VIII. 
 
 4 M.D., and Assistant Surgeon, 42d Regiment. 
 
 5 Died November 6, 1836, aged 18. 
 
 6 Called to the Scottish Bar in 1840. 
 
 7 Accountant, Edinburgh. 
 
 8 Clerk in a Bank in Australia. 
 
 9 Lieutenant hi the H.E.I.C.S.
 
 NO. IX.] SCHOOL EXERCISES. 1 59 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1835 Polus Stellifer. John Renton, dux. 
 Thermopylae. John Nelson. 1 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 The Scottish Emigrant. Thomas Macduff. 2 
 The Soldier's Tear. Robert Maclagan. 3 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1836 In Adventum Caroli Edvardi. Alfred-Bate Richards. 4 
 Iniens Annus William Wilson, dux. 
 
 Somnia. Alexander-Robertson Mackenzie. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1837 Ad Reginam nostram Ulustrissimam Victoriam. James- 
 
 Macgrouther Russell, dux. 
 Aestas. Thomas M. Dickson, dux of the Greek Class in 
 
 1838. 
 Britannice Laudes. Alexander Gumming. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Columbus. George Wilson. 5 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1838 Naufragium. James Sanders, dux. 
 
 Servitus Afrorum. Thomas M. Dickson, dux of the 
 Greek Class. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 The Storm Personified. Richard- White Young. 
 Patriotism. George Wilson. 5 
 
 1 Minister of the Free Church, Newport, Forgan. 
 J Merchant, London. 
 
 3 Lieut. Bengal Engineers, and Principal of Roorkee College, near 
 Meerut, for Civil Engineers. 
 
 4 Barrister of Law, of Lincoln's Inn, London ; author of " Croesus, 
 King of Lydia, a Tragedy," &c. 
 
 5 Probationer, Free Church. 
 
 8 M.D., Edinburgh. Died December 20, 1847.
 
 160 LIST OF THE [API'. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1839 Pueritise Recordatio. William Inglis. 1 
 JEtna John Maclaren, dux. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 The Interview between JEneas and Andromache, JLneid, 
 Book HI., Line 301. James Wilson. 2 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1840 Transitus Isrselitarum per Mare Rubrum. George- 
 
 Smoult Fagan. 
 Prcelii Campus. William Stark, dux. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 The Covenanter's Burial. Thomas Hardy. 3 
 
 Lines to the Memory of those who fell in the Massacre of 
 
 Glencoe. Donald- Campbell Gordon . 4 
 Scotia. John Dougall, dux of the Greek Class. 
 The Soldier's Dream. Alexander-Brunton MacLean. 5 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1841 Spes. William Turner. 6 
 Pompeii. Donald C. Gordon. 4 
 Babylon. William-Dalrymple Maclagan. 7 
 
 Juventus et Senectus. John Dougall, dux of the Greek 
 Class. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Scotland. Robert-Park Scott. 8 
 
 Change. Henry- Maitland-Gordon Stevenson. 9 
 
 1 Student in Divinity, United Presbyterian Church. 
 
 2 Minister of the Chapel of Ease, Rothesay. 
 
 3 Student in Divinity, Established Church. 
 * Student in Divinity, Free Church. 
 
 5 Mercantile Clerk, London. 
 
 6 Student in Divinity, United Presbyterian Church. 
 
 7 Ensign 51st N.I., H.E.I.C.S., Madras. 
 
 8 Teacher, Edinburgh. 
 
 9 Student in Divinity, Established Church.
 
 NO. IX.] SCHOOL EXERCISES. 161 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1842 Jobus. John Fowler, dux of the Greek Class. 
 Athalia. Elias Johnston. 1 
 
 Elias ad Ccelum Transvectus. Robert-Shaw Hutton, dux. 
 Vale. William-Menzies Calder. 2 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 On the Happiness of Rural Life. Virg. Geor. II. 
 James Anderson. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1843 Ad Somnum. John Fowler, dux of the Greek Class. 
 Aurora. Andrew-Rutherfurd Clark. 3 
 
 Vale. Peter-Gray White, dux. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Rome. Robert-Scott Moncrieff. 4 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1844* Angelus Jesum Natum nunciat. Robert-Charles-Henry 
 
 Macduff. 3 
 
 Rosa. James Gibson. 6 
 Boadicea. Andrew Mure, dux. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1845t Mors Alexandri. Peter Cosens, dux. 
 
 1 Student in Divinity, Established Church. 
 
 2 Student in Literature, Edinburgh. 
 
 3 Student in Law, Edinburgh. 
 
 4 In the House of the Messrs Baring, London. 
 
 * In 1844, an English poem of 246 lines on " Jerusalem," the credit- 
 able production of Francis Richardson, a pupil in the Rector's Class, was 
 printed for private circulation. 
 
 & Student in Divinity, Established Church. 
 
 8 Clerk in a merchant's office, Leith. 
 
 t A " Specimen of the Prize Essays of ALEXANDER COLSTON, a pupil 
 of the Fourth Year, Session 1844-5," was printed at the time. The sub- 
 jects of the Essays are, 1. On the best method of Studying History. 2. 
 On the Life and Character of Alexander the Great. 3. On the Rapid and 
 Successful Propagation of Christianity. Dr Boyd, in an affectionate
 
 1 62 LIST OP THE [APP. 
 
 Valedictio. John Glen. 1 
 Naufragium. Robert Demaus. 2 
 
 RECTORSHIP OF DR SCHMITZ. 
 
 Hector's Class. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1846 Ad Nymphas. Alexander Muir, dux. 
 
 Trojse Excidium. James-Noble Bennie. 3 
 On the Story of Sophonisba John Thorn. 4 
 
 LATIN PROSE. 
 
 Translation of a passage from Bishop ThirlwalTs History 
 
 of Greece, vol. ii. pp. 291-2. Alex. Muir, dux. 
 Same subject. James N. Bennie. 3 
 
 GREEK VERSE. 
 
 In Iambic trimeters, from Shakspeare's Merchant of 
 Venice, Act V. Scene I. James N. Bennie. 3 
 
 GREEK PROSE. 
 
 Translation of the Speech of Hanno, from Livy, Book 
 xxi. 10. James N. Bennie. 3 
 
 prefatory notice says, that though it had not previously been customary 
 to give publicity to the effusions of the younger classes, he willingly 
 consented to the publication of those of Mr Alexander Colston. His 
 principal reason for doing so was for the purpose of " affording the 
 Patrons, and others who take an interest in the High School, a proof, 
 that the attention of those who study within its walls is not confined 
 exclusively to Classical acquirements ; and an opportunity of forming 
 a more deliberate estimate than they could otherwise have done, of the 
 progress that is made by the Junior Classes in the principles and prac- 
 tice of English Composition." In 1846, " Voluntary Essays on Beauty 
 and Causation, by Alexander Colston," then a pupil of the Rector's Class, 
 were also printed for private circulation. 
 
 1 Student in Literature, Edinburgh. 
 
 2 Student in Literature, Edinburgh. 
 
 3 Student in Literature, Glasgow. 
 
 * Student in Literature, Edinburgh.
 
 NO. IX.] SCHOOL EXERCISES. 
 
 ENGLISH PEOSE. 
 
 On the Study of Language, and the Art of Literary Com- 
 position. James N. Bennie. 1 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. MR GUNN, Master. 
 
 ENGLISH PEOSE. 
 
 Abstract of "Lectures on the History of Literature." 
 From the German of Frederick Schlegel. Robert 
 Johnston. 
 
 RECTOR'S CLASS. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1847 Tib. et C. Sempronius Gracchus. Christopher-Russell 
 Scott. 
 
 LATIN PEOSE. 
 
 From H. N. Coleridge's Introduction to the Study of the 
 
 Greek Classic Poets, page 7. C. R. Scott. 
 The same subject. George Robertson, major. 
 
 GEEEK VEBSE. 
 
 In Iambic trimeters, Shakspeare's Julius Csesar, Act III. 
 Scene HI. C. R. Scott. 
 
 GEEEK PBOSE. 
 
 Translation from Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, c. 7. C. R. 
 Scott. 
 
 ENGLISH PEOSE. 
 
 Sketch of the Life and Character of Tiberius Sempronius 
 Gracchus. Robert Johnston. 
 
 See p. 162.
 
 1 64 LIST OF THE [APP. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. MR W. W. CARMICHAEL, Master. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 Arcadise Laudes. Jolin Fraser. 
 
 ENGLISH PROSE. 
 
 Sketch of the History of Grecian Literature. James 
 Murray Lindsay. 
 
 FRENCH CLASS. M. DE FIVAS, Master. 
 Prise du chateau de Dumbarton. John Robertson. 
 
 GERMAN CLASS. DR AUE, Master. 
 On Chamisso's Peter Schlemihl. Robert Johnston. 
 
 RECTOR'S CLASS. 
 
 LATIN VERSE. 
 
 1848 Horatii et Curiatii. Robert Johnston. 
 Hannibal. John Fraser. 
 
 LATIN PROSE. 
 
 From Bishop ThirlwalPs Hist, of Greece, vol. ii. p. 114. 
 
 John-Robertson Valence. 
 From the same, vol. ii. p. 142. Robert Johnston. 
 
 GREEK VERSE. 
 
 Glover's Leonidas, Book I. verses 126 to 146. William- 
 
 Ferrie Stevenson. 
 Shakspeare's Hamlet, Act III. Scene I. Robert Johnston. 
 
 GREEK PROSE. 
 Aaya; M. 'loutiov. \tviou 'ifr, B//3. x'/3' *t^. V. Robert 
 
 Johnston.
 
 NO. IX.] SCHOOL EXERCISES. 165 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Ode on Caesar's Invasion of Britain. William Paul. 
 
 ENGLISH PROSE. 
 
 Essay on the Advantages to be derived from the Study 
 of Ancient History. Robert Johnston. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. MR MACMILLAN, Master. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE. 
 
 Scotland. Robert Cleland. 
 
 ENGLISH PROSE. 
 
 Essay on the character of Alexander the Great, as a Ge- 
 neral and as a Statesman. Edward L. Neilson. 
 
 FRENCH CLASS. 
 
 La Reine Mab (Shakspeare, Romeo et Juliette, Act 1. 
 
 Scene IV). James L. Bryden. 
 Tarn o' Shanter (Traduit de 1'Eccossais de Robert Burns) 
 
 Charles Craik. 
 
 GERMAN CLASS. ] 
 
 Klopstock. Free Composition after the English transla- 
 tion of Friedrich von Schlegel's " Geschichte der Lite- 
 ratur." Robert Johnston.
 
 166 MR MACKAY'S [APP, 
 
 No. X. See CHAP. IV. 
 
 SYSTEM OF EDUCATION PRACTISED IN THE HIGH SCHOOL OF 
 EDINBURGH, BY BENJAMIN MACKAY, M.A., AND, IN SUB- 
 STANCE, RECOMMENDED BY HIM TO THE PATRONS OF THE 
 
 INSTITUTION IN THE YEAR 1834. 
 
 In 1820 I became one of the masters of the High School. 
 During fourteen years I had laboured hard as master of a classical 
 academy in Edinburgh, with four numerous classes, -which were 
 chiefly taught by myself, as I found assistants generally inefficient, 
 sometimes from their want of skill, but more frequently from 
 want of authority. From the period when I first visited the 
 High School in 1803 several changes had taken place in the mas- 
 terships. In 1805 Mr Luke Fraser retired, and was succeeded 
 by Mr George Irvine, Governor of Heriot's Hospital. Mr Irvine 
 was an excellent teacher, an exceedingly good-tempered man, 
 and a most delightful companion. He had generally a large 
 class. The same year, on the death of Dr Hill, professor of Hu- 
 manity, Mr Christison was raised to the chair, which he ably filled 
 till 1820. Mr Christison was succeeded in the High School by 
 Mr Carson, who, as a public teacher, soon rose to great and well- 
 merited eminence. He was allowed on all hands to be an able 
 philologist, a profound classical scholar, and a skilful instructor 
 of youth. In 1818 Mr Ritchie retired, and was succeeded by Mr 
 Samuel Lindsay, classical master in Heriot's Hospital, where he 
 had greatly distinguished himself, as a correct, able, and ener- 
 getic teacher. He had been two years under the instructions of 
 Dr Adam, in whose class he ranked among the duxes. He was a 
 great admirer of that eminent individual, whom he made his 
 model in teaching and illustrating the classics, as well as in his 
 modes of discipline. In 1810, on the death of Dr Adam, Mr 
 Pillans, an old pupil of his own, succeeded him. Mr Pillans had 
 greatly signalized himself hi the literary classes of the University 
 of Edinburgh, and afterwards in debating societies among some of 
 the ablest men of his standing. Although well known in the 
 best circles of the Scottish metropolis as a man of talent, and 
 an accomplished scholar, a tutor at Eton, and an Edinburgh
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OP EDUCATION. 167 
 
 Reviewer, he encountered some difficulty in his canvass for the 
 rectorship in consequence of having had no experience in the 
 management of a public class. After his appointment, however, 
 he soon overcame all prejudices, and fully justified the discrimi- 
 nation and choice of the patrons. During the ten or eleven 
 years in which Mr Pillans presided over the school, it enjoyed 
 unrivalled popularity. I attended all his examinations from first 
 to last. He acquired great eclat by the successful introduction 
 of the monitorial system, and other modes of management, at 
 once calculated to regulate the conduct, interest the feelings, 
 and call forth the highest intellectual exertions of his pupils. 
 Himself an elegant scholar, his great aim seemed to be to inspire 
 his pupils with an ambition to attain similar excellence, and to 
 acquire those mental habits and those accomplishments which 
 are necessary to enable youth to act their part successfully on the 
 great stage of life. What struck me as the peculiar excellence 
 of Mr Pillans, was the ardour and enthusiasm with which he 
 inspired his whole class in the pursuit of knowledge, and in the 
 work of self-cultivation. He got his pupils to traverse the world 
 on literary voyages of discovery. The past ages as well as the 
 present, the living as well as the dead, seemed to throw open 
 to them stores of learning and of human thought. It appeared 
 to me, ;hat in his class no boy possessed of mental powers could 
 allow them to be dormant. Not only were the intellectual powers 
 called into action, but the imagination and the feelings were 
 simultaneously exercised and subjected to a process of skilful 
 cultivation. If his pupils do not reach the Temple of Fame, 
 thej must at least feel that he pointed out to them the road 
 that leads to it, the difficulties attending the journey, and the 
 best means of surmounting them. 
 
 On the appointment of Mr Pillans to the Professorship of 
 Humanity, Mr (now Dr) Carson succeeded him in the rectorship 
 of the High School. For twenty-five years he most efficiently 
 discharged the duties of that laborious and responsible situa- 
 tion. His pupils carried off the highest honours at college; 
 and he may in every respect be regarded as a worthy successor 
 of the two distinguished teachers, who had filled the chair before 
 him. 
 
 In 1822, Mr Gray resigned his appointment, and became Prin-
 
 168 MR MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 cipal of the Belfast Academy. I regarded his removal from the 
 High School as a circumstance much to be regretted, as he was 
 universally allowed to be a man of genius, a first rate Greek 
 scholar, and a conscientious and enthusiastic teacher. Mr Gray 
 was succeeded by Mr William Pyper from the grammar school of 
 Glasgow ; who, though a young man, had been long known for 
 high talents and accomplishments. He wrote and spoke with 
 equal facility ; and the school owes him a debt of gratitude for the 
 strenuous exertions which he made to defend its interests, sup- 
 port its fame, extend its accommodation, and have it removed to 
 its present salubrious and central situation. I often think of our 
 united and successful exertions in baffling the enemies of the 
 school by the accomplishment of this last object. Mr (now Dr) 
 Pyper's acknowledged talents and success as a master of the High 
 School, have since most deservedly promoted him to the Pro- 
 fessorship of Humanity in the University of St Andrews. On 
 the resignation of Mr Irvine in 1829, Dr James Boyc, House 
 Governor of Heriot's Hospital, became one of the masters of the 
 school. Dr Boyd had gained the high approbation and con- 
 tidence of the patrons and friends of Heriot's Hospital by great 
 improvements introduced by him into the management and edu- 
 cational course of that valuable establishment. I regarded him 
 from his talents, accomplishments, and experience, as a great 
 acquisition to the institution. 
 
 I come now to state my views and opinions as to the course 
 of study, as to what formed, and what ought to form, the lead- 
 ing branches of education in a great national establishment like 
 the High School. Before, however, entering upon this subject, 
 I must first mention what, in my judgment, constitutes a literal 
 education. I am quite aware of the difficulty of giving any de- 
 finition which may not be liable to objections. But I hope the 
 following one is tolerably correct, and that I am not far from the 
 truth when I also state it to be the general opinion of the citizens 
 of Edinburgh, that a LIBERAL EDUCATION consists in such a course 
 of training as is best calculated to develope and cultivate the menial 
 and moral faculties, and prepare youth for discharging honour- 
 ably and efficiently tlie business of after life. Such I believe to be 
 their opinion of what constitutes a sound and liberal education 
 from the age of eight or nine to that of fifteen or sixteen, when
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 169 
 
 their sons generally go to college, or begin to enter upon the 
 duties of life. If I am correct in the definition which I have 
 now given, the next subject of inquiry is, whether the constitution 
 of the High School is well fitted for carrying out such a course 
 of study, and whether the course itself was and is what it ought 
 to be in order to accomplish the objects now stated. 
 
 With regard to the constitution of the High School, it con- 
 sisted in my time (1820-1843) of a rector or head-master, four 
 classical masters, a teacher of Mathematics and Arithmetic, a 
 teacher of Writing, and a teacher of French. Teachers of Ger- 
 man and Gymnastics have since been added. Now, I have no 
 hesitation in saying, that such a scholastic staff is sufficient to 
 superintend and instruct at least a thousand pupils in all the 
 branches forming the most liberal curriculum. As to the course of 
 study, I mean chiefly to refer to the views which I have uniformly 
 expressed, and leave the friends of the High School to judge how 
 far these are correct, and calculated to secure the ends of a liberal 
 education. 
 
 It was and is my opinion, that a liberal education ought to 
 be founded upon classical literature, for the following reasons : 
 
 1. Without classical literature a man will always appear illiterate 
 among literary men in this and every other country of Europe. 
 
 2. Classical literature forms an admirable exercise for the talents 
 of youth, and no substitute has yet been proposed in its stead, 
 holding out so many advantages. 3. Classical literature is in- 
 dispensable to the learned professions of law, medicine, and 
 divinity; to professors and tutors in universities; masters of 
 academies, institutions, and schools, and to all literary and scien- 
 tific men in general. 4. It is necessary for understanding the 
 compound terms of our own and of foreign languages, and par- 
 ticularly the nomenclature of science. 5. Latin is the key to the 
 French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese languages, which are 
 all formed from it. 6. Classical literature is so interwoven with 
 European and English literature, that the latter cannot be fully 
 understood without the former. 7. The non-classical student is 
 excluded from consulting for himself nearly all the past records 
 of the civilized world, and the oracles of the Christian Revelation. 
 8. Classical learning forms a long course of high mental training, 
 and involves the acquisition of a valuable stock of historical, con-
 
 170 MR MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 stitutional, biographical, geographical, chronological, and mytho- 
 logical knowledge, in order to illustrate the meaning of the au- 
 thors. 9. Language being the vehicle of thought and the key 
 to all the depositories of knowledge, ought always to form a lead- 
 ing object of youthful study ; and the Latin and Greek languages 
 in particular, from their structure and genius, form the best pre- 
 paration for the study of universal, or philosophical grammar. 
 10. Translations can never supply the place of the originals, 
 considered either as sources of historical information, or of in- 
 tellectual enjoyment. 11. Classical knowledge is indispensable 
 for following with advantage most of the prelections at college. 
 For these, and other reasons, I am of opinion that a knowledge 
 of the Latin and Greek classics forms the best groundwork of a 
 liberal education. Upon this point most enlightened men in 
 Europe and America are agreed ; and although there may be a 
 diversity of opinion as to the time which ought to be devoted to 
 classical learning, it is allowed, on all hands, that it ought to hold 
 a prominent position in every system of education which is in- 
 tended to develope, and exercise the reasoning faculties, cultivate 
 the taste, induce habits of industry and perseverance, and pre- 
 pare youth for filling with honour the higher departments of 
 active life. Besides, the attacks upon classical education have 
 generally proceeded from illiterate or visionary individuals, who 
 cannot be supposed to appreciate what they do not understand, 
 or who affect to undervalue what they can never attain. 
 
 But although it has always been my conviction that classical 
 knowledge is quite indispensable in every system of liberal edu- 
 cation, and forms for it the best groundwork, it never was my 
 opinion, that in the present age any system professing to pre- 
 pare youth for the business of active life ought to be exclusively 
 classical. 
 
 A system of liberal school education ought to embrace Geo- 
 metry, because it is a science admirably calculated to deve- 
 lope and exercise the reasoning powers, and to habituate the 
 mind to habits of close thinking, and therefore invaluable as 
 an instrument of education. Without it landed property could 
 neither be divided nor planned ; railroads and canals could not 
 be formed ; kingdoms could not be subdivided ; harbours and 
 coasts could not be surveyed ; maps and charts could not be con-
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 171 
 
 structed ; fortresses could not be rendered impregnable ; bridges 
 could not be securely built ; the ocean could not be traversed by 
 the mariner, nor the field of battle held by the soldier ; and thou- 
 sands of other operations subservient to the uses and benefit of 
 man could not be iindertaken. For these, and other reasons, I 
 approved of and recommended the appointment of a Mathematical 
 teacher in the High School ; though I did not think it proper 
 that this study should be entered upon, except by the pupils of 
 the rector's class, and those boys of the fourth, who were suffi- 
 ciently advanced to prosecute it with advantage. It is also 
 an opinion, which my long experience has justified, that a 
 system of liberal education ought to embrace Arithmetic and 
 Algebra, as well as Geometry. The importance of Arithmetic 
 in every department and sphere of life is too evident to require 
 any elucidation. No one from the peer to the peasant can want 
 it, but at the risk of spending more than his income, and being 
 led blindfold by another who possesses that knowledge in which 
 he is deficient. All teachers of Arithmetic should take care to 
 make their pupils explain the reasons of the rules and operations, 
 and thus call forth and improve their reasoning powers. In con- 
 nexion with Arithmetic and Geometry, I did not omit to recom- 
 mend Algebra as an essential branch of a liberal education, and 
 as possessing considerable advantages over Arithmetic from its 
 abstract mode of resolving questions, and its preventing the per- 
 plexity and saving the labour of long and intricate calculations. 
 But it was not, and it is not my view, that this science should be 
 taught before the fourth year of the course, that is, before a boy 
 has attained his twelfth or thirteenth year. It is generally time 
 enough for any pupil attending the High School to commence 
 Geometry and Algebra about the end of the fourth or commence- 
 ment of the fifth year. Till then I think his time may be more 
 advantageously occupied with other studies. 
 
 Every system of liberal education ought to embrace instruc- 
 tion in Writing, Pen-printing, and Ciphering, and the Elements 
 of Drawing. No man can appreciate more highly than I do 
 the beautiful, interesting, and useful art of Writing and Cipher- 
 ing, nor be more anxious that pupils should attain great profi- 
 ciency in it. Proficiency and readiness in the use of the pen are 
 necessary, not only for all boys destined for the mercantile pro-
 
 172 MR MA CRAY'S [APP. 
 
 fession, but for individuals in every condition and sphere of life. 
 Without this branch of education, it is almost impossible to rise'one 
 step in the scale of society. Pen-printing, too, is most useful in 
 many businesses. It cannot then be called a liberal system of 
 education which does not make complete provision for Writing, 
 Ciphering, and Printing, as well as for Practical Arithmetic. 
 While, therefore, I approve of the presence of a writing-master 
 with his assistants at the High School, I have always thought 
 that his labours may be materially aided, and the desired effect 
 of his instructions insured, by the countenance and co-operation 
 of the classical masters. It has long been my opinion, that in 
 connexion with Writing, it is highly expedient to introduce 
 into the High School a practical system of Initiatory Drawing. 
 The art of Drawing and sketching, from its almost universal 
 utility, ought to form an indispensable part of a common as 
 well as of a liberal education for the youth of both sexes in all 
 schools. This opinion I expressed on one occasion in the following 
 words : ' Every parent of the least discernment, will see the 
 propriety of giving his children Reading, Spelling, and Recita- 
 tion, Arithmetic, Writing, the Elements of Drawing, and English 
 Grammar. These branches ought to be regarded in every school 
 of Britain as indispensable parts of a common education. All 
 these the pupil may nearly master before he is ten years of age.' 
 To enable any one to appreciate this branch of education, it is 
 only necessary to state, that it is highly useful and often perfectly 
 indispensable to the soldier, the sailor, the traveller, the engineer, 
 the architect, the manufacturer, the mechanic or artisan, and in 
 short to every one who has occasion to exhibit to the eyes of 
 others any object of nature or of art. Nor is it in a practical 
 view alone that the art of Drawing is valuable, for it is admirably 
 calculated, as an instrument of education, to cultivate in a high 
 degree one of the most useful powers of the mind the faculty of 
 observation in general. Drawing is, in fact, the art of seeing 
 objects in perfection. It is nearly allied to Writing, and not 
 more difficult to acquire ; all that is necessary being a few general 
 directions at first, and a set of good copies. Before our accom- 
 plished writing-master Mr Alexander M'Kean left the High 
 School, he had entered fully into my views, and introduced the 
 system into his class with distinguished success. It was also
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 173 
 
 introduced and warmly patronised by Dr Boyd, whose opinions 
 on this, as well as on every other point connected with the High 
 School, entirely coincided with my own. I had a set of lessons 
 engraved by which the pupils were taught in a few days, first 
 to draw horizontal, perpendicular, and slanting lines with ease 
 and correctness, then to draw other lines parallel to these, and 
 afterwards to make single and double or parallel arches, dividing 
 them by the eye into halves and quarters. Every teacher who 
 makes the experiment will find that this kind of elementary 
 exercise, with perhaps a few lessons on shading and perspective, 
 will enable the pupil to copy any drawings, prints, or patterns 
 that may be placed before him, and ultimately to sketch from 
 nature with pen or pencil. I have thus expressed my opinion 
 at some length with regard to these important branches of 
 study, because I am convinced of their great practical utility. 
 One great advantage recommending these exercises is, that they 
 take little from the teacher's time, and are almost without ex- 
 pense to the pupils. All that is necessary is to give them a few 
 copies to draw from, and to prescribe a regular series of ver- 
 sions ; and, if the classical master insists on these being carefully 
 executed, a gradual and steady improvement will be observed. 
 So far is this from precluding attendance on the writing class, 
 that it is in fact calculated to render his instructions more ef- 
 fective. , 
 
 The next branch of education on which I shall venture to give 
 my opinion, is one, with the importance and value of which I 
 have always been deeply impressed I mean, English Com- 
 position. It is fax from my intention to arrogate to myself 
 the right to dictate any particular course of study, but merely 
 to express my opinion, and direct attention strongly to those 
 branches which are generally allowed to constitute the ground- 
 work of a solid, literary, scientific, and mercantile education. In a 
 country like Great Britain, no system of education can be called 
 liberal which excludes or overlooks any ordinary mercantile and 
 commercial branches. Composition, in the highest sense of the 
 word, is an accomplishment which can scarcely be attained by 
 boys while they remain at a grammar school. But the initiatory 
 process may be gone through with great advantage and success 
 even in the junior classes of the High School. In my opinion,
 
 174 MR MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 the first elementary step is to copy the easy compositions of 
 others, such as cards, short letters, descriptions, narratives, &c. 
 The second is to write some few sentences to dictation, and 
 have the errors corrected. The third, to parse some exercises of 
 the English language analytically and syntactically, and to correct 
 false grammar. The fourth, to describe a number of objects in the 
 minute way recommended by Dr Mayo in his ' Lessons on Objects.' 
 The fifth, to write little narratives or descriptions of their own. 
 The sixth, to read some short essays once or twice, and then shut 
 the book and write them out, omitting none of the important ideas. 
 The seventh, to treat some short subject in an order pointed out 
 by the master. Lastly, to write or speak upon any theme or 
 subject, in a certain order as assigned and directed by the teacher, 
 the pupils drawing upon their own minds and information for 
 the arguments and illustrations. Before leaving the High School 
 I had begun to collect and arrange materials for a text-book of 
 this nature, which I thought was a desideratum in our national 
 education. Generally speaking, I conceive it is only the first six 
 or seven of these steps that can be attempted in the junior classes 
 of the High School. The eighth must be left to the rector's 
 pupils. 
 
 The elementary course of composition which I would recom- 
 mend for the pupils of the High School will, however, be found 
 exceedingly beneficial, as giving them a great command of the 
 pen, making them thoroughly acquainted with orthography and 
 punctuation, as well as the general structure of a sentence, and 
 the usual errors in grammar, which must be allowed to be no mean 
 or useless accomplishments in boys of twelve or thirteen years 
 of age. 
 
 Among the reminiscences I cannot omit one which relates to 
 a branch of study, which many called a hobby of mine for the 
 last forty-five years I mean mental arithmetic. During the 
 first five years of my professional career I had occasion to teach 
 mental and practical arithmetic ; arid I aver, that there was no 
 part of the scholastic course which I entered upon with more sa- 
 tisfaction than this, and that there was none in which pupils 
 at all stages made more satisfactory progress. I have ex- 
 pressed and published my opinion, that the science of number 
 ought to be commenced mentally by pupils of both sexes at the
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 175 
 
 age of seven or eight, and that it should even take the lead of 
 writing and grammar. I have proved to the satisfaction of the 
 most competent judges that pupils, before they are ten years of 
 age, may be taught not only all the arithmetical tables, and to 
 add, multiply, subtract, and divide, whole numbers, vulgar frac- 
 tions and decimals, with great rapidity and precision, but to give 
 the reason of every operation on mathematical principles. In 
 the usual mode of teaching arithmetic three errors are gene- 
 rally committed, namely, 1. The pupils are taught to perform the 
 operations not by associating numbers with sensible objects, but 
 by artificial rules which they do not understand. 2. They are 
 presented at the very threshhold of the science with numbers so 
 large that the mind cannot form any correct conception of them, 
 or comprehend the chain of reasoning ; and 3. They are not syste- 
 matically, progressively, or sufficiently drilled in the four fun- 
 damental rules. The consequence is, that arithmetical opera- 
 tions are usually performed by young people with uncertainty 
 and inaccuracy, and often with disgust. Now in the plan which 
 I pursued, the calculations, whether performed mentally or on 
 slates, were confined within a multiplication and division table of 
 twenty times twenty, or 400, and sometimes twelve times twelve, 
 or 144. These numbers are not so large as to be beyond the 
 comprehension of pupils of ordinary capacity ; and if the calcula- 
 tions be carried on regularly through whole numbers, vulgar and 
 decimal fractions, they will be found to include nearly all the 
 operations requisite for the ordinary business of life. As the pu- 
 pils advance, it will be very proper to make the examples in 
 slate practice gradually increase in difficulty; but in an elementary 
 course the large numbers of millions, billions, and trillions, usually 
 taught in numeration tables, are calculated to bewilder the 
 learner, and are therefore highly unsuitable. To illustrate what 
 I have now stated, if a boy taught by the usual mode of artifi- 
 cial rules, were asked what is one-third of five-sevenths, he would 
 probably stare, call for his slate and pencil, and after puzzling 
 his brain for half an hour, fail to solve the problem : whereas a 
 pupil taught by my method would answer at once that one-third 
 of five-sevenths is five twenty-first parts, because, if one-third of 
 one-seventh is one twenty-first part, one-third of five sevenths 
 must be five times as much, or as many ; and if asked what is
 
 176 ME MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 two-thirds of five-sevenths, he would answer, ten twenty-first 
 parts, assigning the reason or proof as before. But I cannot 
 pursue this topic any further. 
 
 On the next point also to which I shall now advert, I have 
 long since published my sentiments. As I have stated above, 
 in a great commercial country like Britain, much attention ought 
 to be paid to every branch of a Mercantile Education. In this 
 department the theory and practice of book-keeping, a knowledge 
 of business forms, and a correct taste for stating accounts, must 
 always form a prominent part. I have known by observation that 
 much experience and manual practice, as well as correct think- 
 ing, are necessary for the management and adjustment of com- 
 mercial concerns. It is the counting-house alone that can per- 
 fect this department of education. At the same time, much may 
 be effected under a good system at school. The pupils may be 
 trained to commercial and general correspondence, they may be 
 taught'to calculate with rapidity and accuracy, they may be made 
 acquainted with business forms, such as drawing bills of exchange, 
 stating accounts, bills of parcels, invoices, &c. ; and finally, they 
 may be required to show up at some advanced part of their educa- 
 tional course a balanced and well- written set of books, and to apply 
 the principles of book-keeping to every entry in the Waste-book, 
 Journal or Day-book, Cash-book, and Ledger. These exercises 
 may be regarded as the finishing parts of a school system of mer- 
 cantile education, embracing as they do both the theory and prac- 
 tice of the art. In every institution the master who superintends 
 the mercantile department ought not only to be capable of teach- 
 ing a legible, free, and spirited style of writing, but of showing his 
 pupils the best manner of arranging business transactions in 
 books according to modern practice, and preparing them for the 
 general business of the counting-house. Such a person must 
 be a valuable acquisition to any seminary of general education. 
 
 In connexion with mercantile education, as well as with general 
 literature and the arts, the necessity of attending to foreign 
 languages naturally presents itself. The study of modern lan- 
 guages is, I fear, too much neglected in British, and particu- 
 larly in Scottish, education. When we consider the trade and 
 commerce of Great Britain, its mercantile intercourse with the 
 other nations of Europe, especially with France, Germany, Spain,
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OP EDUCATION. 177 
 
 Portugal, and Italy, and the probability of still more extended 
 dealings, in consequence of the improved and rapid communi- 
 cation between us and these countries when we think of foreign 
 literature, and the advanced state of the arts and sciences 
 abroad and when we reflect upon the ardour, general intelli- 
 gence, and adventurous spirit of the British manufacturers and 
 merchants, it seems not unreasonable to expect that some at- 
 tention should be paid in our great public seminaries to at 
 least the elements of modern European languages. On the con- 
 tinent of Europe our two great rivals in literature, science, and 
 arts, are the French and the Germans, whose languages are in 
 almost universal use throughout Europe ; while among them a 
 knowledge of our language and literature is daily becoming more 
 prevalent. These two nations rival us in manufactures, in com- 
 merce, in medicine, in anatomy, in surgery, in chemistry, in poli- 
 tical economy, and in Biblical criticism, as well as in poetry, his- 
 tory, architecture, &c., and not a year passes without sending 
 forth from their press a variety of critical and scientific treatises. 
 With such active and powerful rivalry, it is not to be expected 
 that Great Britain can long hold the elevated position which she 
 has hitherto occupied, if, from her want of acquaintance with their 
 languages, she remains ignorant of the progress made by her 
 enlightened neighbours in those arts and enterprises on which her 
 greatness and her character depend. I was so much impressed 
 with the importance of modern languages, that about thirty 
 years ago I reduced the grammars of the French, Italian, Spanish, 
 and Portuguese languages to a tabular form, presenting all the 
 conjugations of these four languages on one page. In 1820, 
 when I became a master of the High School, I had them litho- 
 graphed, put upon pasteboard, and hung up in my class-room. 
 The storms with which the school was soon after assailed pre- 
 vented me from prosecuting my plan. But I pursued it far 
 enough to prove its complete practicability. French, however, 
 was the only language which I carried to any extent, but in that 
 language some of my classes could parse and construe nearly as 
 well as in Latin or English. I think that without trenching 
 upon the classical department, or other branches of general 
 knowledge, in the High School, the elements of the above lan- 
 guages might be advantageously introduced at the general busi-
 
 178 MB MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 ness hour, among the collateral branches which are already com- 
 prehended in the curriculum. 
 
 I need not here allude to English Grammar, Roman and Grecian 
 History, Geography, &c., as these branches in the High School 
 form, in connexion with the classics, I may say the basis of its edu- 
 cational system. There is therefore only one branch more which 
 presents itself to my mind worthy of consideration, as capable of 
 being introduced at the General Knowledge hour I mean an 
 outline of Natural History and Physical Science ; 1 the former 
 embracing the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms ; and the 
 latter mechanics, hydraulics, hydrostatics, &c. In referring to the 
 outline which I have now recommended, I cannot help stating my 
 conviction that no study is more capable of affording highly edify- 
 ing instruction and refined pleasure, than the contemplation of 
 the wisdom of God in the works of creation. The student who is 
 examining all the phenomena and laws of nature, is employed in 
 the most extensive province of human knowledge. Physical 
 science is termed by Lord Bacon ' The root of all the sciences and 
 arts;' and it is beautifully remarked by Dr Arnott, ' That a man 
 reading a thousand volumes of ordinary books, as agreeable pas- 
 time, will receive only vague impressions ; but he who studies the 
 methodised ' Book of Nature,' converts the great universe into a 
 simple and sublime history, which tells of God, and may worthily 
 occupy his attention to the end of his days.' The want which I 
 felt was a proper text-book, and if this could be supplied, I think 
 it quite easy to carry the pupils through such an outline as that 
 to which I have alluded, and to direct their attention besides to 
 a course of general reading on these subjects. 
 
 Having given my reminiscences of the masters, and my opinions 
 as to the proper branches of study, I come now to give a few no- 
 tices regarding matters in which I was more immediately concerned. 
 The first, in which I found myself called upon to take an active part, 
 with regard to High School arrangements, was with reference to 
 the appointment of Mr Gray to be sole teacher of Greek in the es- 
 
 1 While this was going through the press, the patrons of the school 
 were actually appointing lecturers on these two departments of science. 
 On the 16th of January 1849, Mr WILLIAM RHIND was elected Lec- 
 turer on Natural History, and Dr JOHN MURRAY on Chemistry. See 
 CHAP. IV.
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 179 
 
 tablishment. This appointment was the result of a compromise 
 between his friends and those of Dr Carson in the canvass for the 
 rectorship. Notwithstanding the talents and known scholarship 
 of that gentleman, his appointment was any thing but popular, 
 for three reasons. First, it substituted one teacher of Greek 
 instead of five, the rector and the other four masters ; Secondly, 
 it imposed on the pupils of the four junior classes a fee of one 
 pound or guinea, whereas they had been previously taught gra- 
 tuitously by each master in succession ; and, Thirdly, because it 
 transferred the pupils of the rector, and every other master in the 
 school, to one master, who, with all his many excellent qualities, 
 was not quite popular. With great reluctance I found myself 
 called upon, from a regard to the efficiency of the system, the 
 respectability of the masters, and the satisfaction of the public, 
 to make the most strenuous efforts for the restoration of the 
 former arrangements. A petition was written out by the late 
 Lord Kinnedder, whose son was at that time in my class, signed 
 by a number of influential individuals, many of whose sons were 
 then my pupils, and presented to the council, who rescinded the 
 appointment, guaranteeing to Mr Gray an annuity of one hundred 
 pounds, payable by Dr Carson. This annuity Mr Gray soon after 
 renounced upon resigning his mastership, and accepting the prin- 
 cipalship of Belfast Academy. 
 
 I ought perhaps to have previously mentioned, that when Von 
 Feinaigle visited Edinburgh, to exhibit to the good citizens his 
 wonder-working system of Mnemonics, he attracted great no- 
 tice. Young pupils, who had only been a few hours in training, 
 were brought forward to determine most accurately the geo- 
 graphical situation, in degrees and minutes, of long lists of cities 
 in different quarters of the globe ; they could recite long pieces 
 of poetry backward or forward, stating most precisely the num- 
 ber of the stanza, line, or even of any particular word, and per- 
 form many other feats connected with History, Chronology, &c. 
 It was even rumoured abroad that the system was applicable to 
 languages, mathematics, and all the arts and sciences. This 
 intellectual city seemed on the eve of a great educational revo- 
 lution. I, like some other teachers, had the curiosity to take 
 out the Professor's ticket, which cost only five pounds, or guineas 
 (I forget which, notwithstanding the benefit .of his able instruc-
 
 180 MR MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 tions). I found his lecture-room crowded with ladies, and a few 
 gentlemen, among whom I observed, I think, the late Sir James 
 Hall of Dunglass, Professor Pillans, and his dux Mr Carmichael 
 (afterwards one of the masters of the Edinburgh Academy), in 
 front, kindly acting as fugleman. Mr Carmichael was a clever 
 young man, with a most tenacious memory. He displayed great 
 mental precision, and showed off the system to much advantage. 
 I found the system consisted of mechanical modes of aiding the 
 natural memory, by means of hieroglyphics or symbols, accu- 
 rately numbered, and arranged mentally on the floor, walls, ceil- 
 ing, &c. The objects to be remembered were artificially associ- 
 ated with the symbols placed in particular localities, and with 
 numbers, which recalled them at once to the mind. Every 
 learner was instructed to fit up imaginary saloons for himself, 
 and adorn the different compartments with emperors, kings, 
 and heroes, fantastically associated with the hieroglyphics, the 
 length of their reign, or date of their exit from the stage of 
 life, being indicated by queer words, formed of consonants with- 
 out vowels, these consonants standing for figures. A great num- 
 ber of facts were thus easily impressed upon the memory ; the 
 oddness of the association rather strengthening than weakening 
 the impression. I cannot say to what extent the ladies had 
 their memories strengthened and improved, or their capacities 
 and understandings enlarged, but I suppose, like myself, they 
 have not quite forgot the amount of fee. Having then a rising 
 Classical Academy in the New Town, I went always direct from 
 the lectures and instructed my pupils in the arcana of the 
 science. It amused them exceedingly, and they displayed an 
 extent of knowledge which would appear very wonderful to any 
 one not initiated in the mysteries. I found, however, that its 
 application was very limited, and that my pupils, by trusting to 
 these artificial modes, had their lessons much worse at the end 
 of each week, than when they trusted to their natural memory. 
 One day I was surprised by a visit in my class from Von Fein- 
 aigle, 1 who came in great joy upon hearing that I had successfully 
 
 1 See Feinaigle's (Gregor von) New Art of Memory : To which is pre- 
 fixed, some account of the principal Systems of Artificial Memory. Il- 
 lustrated by Engravings, Lond. 1812. 12mo.
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 181 
 
 introduced his memoria technica. Upon being told by me that I 
 regarded the scheme as by no means applicable as an instrument 
 of general education, he looked quite chopfallen, and rather de- 
 murely left the room. Soon after, he quitted Edinburgh, and went 
 to Dublin, where he kept the natives of the emerald isle for 
 years worshipping the goddess of memory, and presenting large 
 pecuniary offerings at her altar. I believe my opinion of the 
 system, expressed to him in the short, rather coarse, but signifi- 
 cant term " humbug" was his chief inducement for leaving us so 
 abruptly. It was understood, however, he carried off in his 
 pockets fifteen hundred pounds, levied in two or three weeks a 
 substantial and gratifying proof of public admiration. He never 
 returned to levy new contributions. 
 
 The next educational wonder-worker who attempted to levy 
 black mail on the citizens of Edinburgh was a Mr Hamilton l 
 from America, who came here in 1826 with great dclat, in con- 
 sequence of his feats in London, and a humorous, witty, and 
 able article in the Edinburgh Review, written in favour of 
 his system by the late Rev. Sydney Smith. His arrogance 
 was boundless. He denounced all former systems as utterly 
 valueless, and consigned them to annihilation. Upon examin- 
 ing his prospectuses, text-books, and plans, I found his whole 
 scheme was founded upon a whim of Mr Locke's, and that 
 it could not stand a week, if put in competition with the ra- 
 tional and solid system of the High School. He had now begun 
 in Edinburgh most auspiciously, under powerful patronage. He 
 opened a printing establishment for the publication of books. 
 His classes were already numerous, and he had every prospect of 
 realizing two thousand a year by the speculation. My class 
 was just commencing to read Greek. I openly attacked and de- 
 nounced his system in the newspapers, and challenged him to 
 put the pupils taught by him in public competition with mine, 
 who were then only about eleven years of age. My letters, as 
 well as his, first appeared in the Edinburgh Evening Courant, I 
 think, about the end of September. After a good deal of win- 
 
 1 Mr James Hamilton, author of the Hamiltonian System of Teaching 
 Languages, died in his 60th year, September 16, 1829, at Dublin, whither 
 he had repaired to propagate his views by the delivery of Lectures.
 
 182 MR MACK AY'S [A PP. 
 
 cing, writhing, and a few vapouring letters, he declined the 
 combat, and departed, leaving his types and printing-presses 
 behind him, but carrying off, I believe, most of his interlinear 
 keys, which he found were not very highly appreciated in Scot- 
 land. This challenge had a very good effect on the public mind. 
 The citizens saw that I had thrown down the gauntlet, and that 
 this great champion of innovation had not dared to take it up, 
 and abandoned all hope of future contributions. He very 
 quietly took final leave of Edinburgh. At the end of the ses- 
 sion, in August next, my class displayed extraordinary profi- 
 ciency in all the branches which formed the curriculum of 
 study, but especially in Greek, in which language they not only 
 professed the Grammar and Primitives, but most of the Analecta 
 Minora, the Four Gospels, and the Revelation. My next class 
 rose to upwards of 170 pupils, and yielded me an income of 
 L.700 a larger income than any of the ordinary classes had 
 ever before yielded. 
 
 During the year 1827 our system underwent a revision, by 
 which it was greatly improved. The scheme was drawn up 
 entirely by Mr Pyper and myself, the other masters approv- 
 ing generally, and some of them hesitatingly. A difference 
 of opinion among masters on a course of education for an insti- 
 tution is a serious evil. I felt its baneful effects during the 
 whole period of my connexion with the school. The patrons 
 of the High School ought to be cautious how they meddle with 
 the arrangements or text-books of the establishment, as they 
 will always find the public extremely touchy on these subjects, 
 especially if there is any enhancement of price. When, how- 
 ever, a revision of the system does take place, they ought most 
 strictly to enforce uniformity. The want of a single peg may 
 cause a strong and beautiful framework to fall asunder. 
 
 Having stated at some length my reminiscences of the High 
 School masters, my opinions and views with respect to the 
 branches which ought to form a course of liberal education in 
 this ancient establishment, and a few reminiscences somewhat 
 personal to myself, I shall now exhibit a synoptic view of the 
 curriculum, and show how, in my humble judgment, the system 
 may most effectually be carried into operation, and the insti- 
 tution rendered permanently popular with the citizens of Edin-
 
 KO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 183 
 
 burgh, on whose favourable opinion it must mainly depend for 
 support. Assuming, then, as an axiom fully and unanimously 
 admitted by the rector and masters, as I think it ought to be, 
 that the High School is an institution maintained by the corpo- 
 ration of Edinburgh, not only to prepare youth for College, but 
 to enable them to discharge, efficiently and honourably, the ordi- 
 nary business of after-life, I give it as my opinion, that in the 
 classical department, at the end of the fourth year, the pupils 
 ought to know thoroughly, and profess, at the public examina- 
 tion : First ; the Latin Rudiments and Vocabulary, with the Ety- 
 mology of English words derived from Latin. Second ; the Greek 
 Rudiments and Vocabulary, with the Etymology of English 
 words derived from Greek, and especially the Nomenclature of 
 Science. Third ; the initiatory Classical Manual, forming an 
 easy introduction to the higher Classics, and to History, Geo- 
 graphy, Mythology, and Antiquities, with etymological and syn- 
 tactical parsing, ad aperturam libri. Fourth; Turner's Latin 
 Grammatical Exercises, and Mair's Introduction (or a better 
 substitute, as a High School version-book), varying the sentences 
 through all the moods, tenses, numbers, and persons. Fifth : 
 Ca;iline's Conspiracy, by Sallust, and the first and fourth Ora- 
 tions against Catiline, by Cicero. Sixth ; the usual Extracts 
 from Ovid's Works, with the Eclogues, and first two books of the 
 ^'Eneid, parsing analytically and syntactically, scanning and 
 proving, ad aperturam libri, any line or passage that may be 
 presented to them. Seventh ; a complete outline of Ancient and 
 Modern Geography. Eighth; scanning of hexameter and pent- 
 ameter verse, with the other metres used by the Latin Poets, es- 
 pecially by Horace, the application of Ruddiman's Latin Rules. 
 Ninth ; first six sentences of each Rule in Dr Carson's Greek 
 Exercises, and at least one Book of the Anabasis, with analytical 
 and syntactical parsing, and perhaps one or two of the Gospels. 
 
 Besides the above course of study, which is strictly classical, the 
 pupils, in the General Knowledge Department, ought, at the public 
 examination which concludes their fourth session, to exhibit, first, 
 all their written exercises in English Composition, from the begin- 
 ning of the session, the pages being numbered, and not a leaf torn 
 out. Second, a perfect knowledge of Mental and Practical Arith- 
 metic, Decimal and Vulgar Fractions, &c., proved by extempore
 
 184 MB MACKAY'S [AFP. 
 
 oral exercises, and slate practice. Third, their Writing, Print- 
 ing, and Ciphering-book, of at least fifty-two pages. Fourth, 
 their Sketching and Drawing-book, of at least fifty-two pages. 
 Fifth, extempore Analytical and Syntactical Parsing of any pas- 
 sage in an English Author, prose or verse, with correction of false 
 Syntax, and recitation, with the figures of rhetoric. Sixth, a short 
 Elementary course of Book-keeping, as above. Seventh, a know- 
 ledge of Roman and Grecian History, in competition for the 
 prize. Eighth, a knowledge of the Principles of Universal Gram- 
 mar, with a Synoptic View of the Grammar of the Principal 
 European Languages, but especially French. Finally, an out- 
 line of Natural History and Physical Science ; the former em- 
 bracing the Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms; the 
 latter Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, &c. To carry out 
 these branches successfully, it is necessary to have a good Text- 
 Book, and a series of leading questions for examination. 
 
 It has long appeared to me, that to carry out the education of 
 youth in a satisfactory manner, there is also the want of an 
 English Text-book, combining Mental, Moral, and Religious In- 
 struction, calculated at once to initiate them in the Art of 
 Thinking, and imbue their minds with sound principles. 
 
 By the time that pupils have gone through the above course 
 of study they are generally twelve or thirteen years of age. If 
 they are destined for business, they frequently leave the High 
 School, and attend other masters for purely commercial or pro- 
 fessional branches. This I regarded as a great evil, which ought 
 if possible to be obviated by adapting the subsidiary classes of 
 the school to their views. If they are destined for the learned 
 professions, or if their parents can afford them time for the pro- 
 secution of a liberal education, they enter the rector's class, 
 where for two years, or at least one, they continue to study the 
 Latin and Greek Classics, Roman and Greek Antiquities, and 
 Ancient and Modern Geography, in connexion with Universal 
 History. There, too, they have to give /in exercises in English, 
 as well as in Latin and Greek Competition, Prose and Verse. 
 Nothing can be more admirably adapted, in so far as the classics 
 are concerned, to give an elegant finish to a young man's edu- 
 cation, than the course of study in the rector's class. It is the 
 rearing of a beautiful superstructure upon the broad and solid
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 185 
 
 foundation laid by the four masters of the junior classes. In 
 connexion with the rector's class, there are teachers of Mathe- 
 matics, French, and German. There is also a teacher of Writing 
 and Book-keeping, who keeps assistants, and has hours for all 
 such as may require his assistance in any of those useful branches. 
 Attendance on all these subsidiary branches is optional ; and the 
 fee, though very moderate compared with other institutions, is 
 perhaps a little higher than if the attendance were imperative. 
 In the Mathematical class, the pupils are taught Geometry, 
 Algebra, as also Practical Mathematics, with the use of Loga- 
 rithms. If any of the pupils should wish instructions in the 
 art of Self-defence, there is an accomplished professor in at- 
 tendance at moderate fees. Nowhere in Europe have I heard 
 of a more complete course of study ; and if the arrangement of 
 the hours be properly attended to, so that the masters do not 
 interfere with one another, but carry out unanimously the en- 
 lightened views of the patrons, I think the school would become 
 pre-eminently popular. On this point I have long entertained 
 particular notions, which I shall presently take the liberty of 
 stating. 
 
 During the time that I was connected with the school, the sys- 
 tem of education under went two revisions, first in 1827, as already 
 mentioned, under the old town-council, and next in 1834. In the 
 latter year, the reformed town-council, wishing to testify to their 
 fellow-citizens their zeal in the good cause of education, resolved 
 to bring the system of the school under their review, in order to 
 introduce such improvements as to them might seem advis- 
 able. Having discovered that there was a difference of opinion 
 among the masters themselves on the subject of the course of 
 study, and other arrangements, they adopted the cautious mode 
 of calling upon them, not collectively, but individually and separ- 
 ately, to state their views, as to the changes which they believed 
 might be beneficial to the establishment. This afforded me a 
 better opportunity than I had before had of explaining to the 
 patrons my educational views, and of furnishing some suggestions, 
 which I believed would not only be well received by the commu- 
 nity, but were of vital importance to the prosperity of the school. 
 In the long letter which I wrote on that occasion, while I avoided 
 recommending any change by which the efficiency of the school
 
 186 MR MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 as a classical establishment might be diminished, or its prosperity 
 endangered, I did not hesitate to recommend such an alteration 
 in the arrangement of the hours, and such improvements in the 
 course of study, as I thought absolutely necessary to enable the 
 youth attending the seminary to discharge with success the or- 
 dinary duties of after life. As my opinions have been already 
 fully stated respecting the course of study of which I approve, I 
 shall only say, that the College Committee adopted all my sug- 
 gestions, and unanimously recommended them to the town-coun- 
 cil, who as unanimously passed them into a law. I lately ap- 
 plied at the Council Chamber to see my letter, addressed to the 
 patrons in 1834, but found it had been mislaid, which obliges 
 me to trust to memory alone, as I retained no copy of it. 
 
 Among the suggestions which I made to the College Committee 
 and town-council on that occasion were the following: First, 
 that a French master should be appointed, with a fee of ten shil- 
 lings and sixpence per quarter. Second, that the three junior 
 classes should have their hour of interval from eleven to twelve, 
 and the rector's class with the fourth, from twelve to one, so 
 that the higher Arithmetic and Algebra might be taught at the 
 latter hour, and the boys of the fourth have access if they chose. 
 Third, that the Public Geometry and Algebra should be from 
 three to four, when not only the rector's class, but any pupils 
 from the junior classes might attend, at a fee of ten shillings and 
 sixpence per quarter. Fourth, that there should be annually a 
 four-month course of Practical Mathematics, with the use of 
 Logarithms, from the 1st of April, between the hours of eight to 
 nine in the morning, at ten shillings and sixpence per course. 
 Fifth, that any pupil who required it, should have at any time 
 a four-month course of Book-keeping, at ten shillings and six- 
 pence per course. Sixth, that the course of study in the four 
 junior classes should be called the " JUNIOR MEDALLIST COURSE," 
 and in the rector's class, the " SENIOR MEDALLIST COURSE ;" and 
 that pupils passing through theTJSe or other of these courses, 
 should have the privilege of attending any of the subsidiary 
 masters on the above terms, for one year thereafter, either at 
 the High School, or, if the hour should be inconvenient, at the 
 master's own private class. Seventh, that each of the masters 
 of the four junior classes should, under the name of the General
 
 NO. X.J SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 187 
 
 Knowledge Class, daily instruct his pupils, not only in English 
 Grammar and Composition, History and Geography, &c., but in 
 Mental Arithmetic, and any thing which he believed to be essen- 
 tial, in addition to the classics, for preparing his pupils most 
 effectually to discharge their duties in any sphere or condition of 
 life in which it might please God to place them ; that the quarterly 
 fee for this class should be only five shillings, the classical fee 
 being fifteen shillings. Eighth, that the sum of five shillings per 
 annum, levied on each of the pupils of the four junior classes for 
 the benefit of the rector, and on the pupils of the rector's class 
 for the benefit of the four masters, should be abolished ; and that 
 the public fees of the rector's class, for Latin, Greek, and Com- 
 position, should be a guinea per quarter, with an annual payment 
 in October of ten shillings and sixpence for instruction in Geo- 
 graphy, Universal History, &c., two or three days a week. 
 
 Now, with regard to the course of study in the rector's class, 
 I must say it appeared to me, as I know it did to a great majority 
 of the public, that it was too exclusively classical, and occupied 
 too much of the pupils' time. The only change which I con- 
 sidered necessary to render that class and the school completely 
 popular, was, that the rector should appropriate three hours a 
 week to Geometry, Algebra, and English Composition, alternately 
 with his Geography and History class. This might be done 
 either under his own superintendence, under that of the Mathe- 
 matical master, or his assistant. As the rector had five hours 
 a day, I thought this small deduction was but a reasonable con- 
 cession to public opinion. To carry out this arrangement, it 
 was absolutely necessary that he should adhere to the adjustment 
 of time marked out by the patrons; that he should cease to 
 teach any of his classes at the hours appointed to the Mathe- 
 matical master ; that he should levy his fees in the mode pointed 
 out in the schedule ; that the hour for his new branches should 
 be from two to three ; and that the aggregate expense of his 
 general class, with the addition of these branches, should not 
 exceed five guineas per annum. I feel assured that such an ar- 
 rangement would have doubled or trebled his class, and of course 
 his income. I could easily show how a drill-sergeant might be 
 added without any additional expense. 
 
 These proposed improvements, having been the result of deep
 
 188 MR MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 and patient study, and for the most part tested by me through- 
 out my long professional career, were in my estimation emi- 
 nently calculated to meet the wishes of the public, and advance 
 the interests of the institution. Although, however, they were 
 warmly and unanimously Approved of and adopted by the pa- 
 trons of the school, and acquiesced in by the masters, circum- 
 stances to which, after so long an interval, it would be inexpe- 
 dient to advert, checked the favourable working of the scheme, 
 and prevented it from having that fair trial, so essential to every 
 plan of reform which aspires to public favour. With the natural 
 feelings which influence one, on seeing a cherished and anxiously 
 elaborated scheme deprived in part of its efficiency, and from no 
 defect in itself, failing to produce the anticipated results, I cer- 
 tainly felt disappointed. 
 
 After considering, however, the circumstances, I determined 
 at all hazards to justify and carry through the course of study 
 enacted by the patrons. Accordingly I arranged all my plans. 
 I collected all my materials, purchased, composed, printed, ste- 
 reotyped, employed drawers, engravers, and other artists to per- 
 fect the system, and carry it into complete operation. I went on 
 with these improvements till I had expended L.850. With my 
 whole apparatus now ready, with all my implements in the finest 
 order for performing my operations, I opened the first class 
 in October. The class amounted to ninety-eight, and con- 
 tained a great deal of excellent talent. On the 15th of that 
 month I announced in the public newspapers my determi- 
 nation to institute a series of public quarterly examinations, 
 in presence of the most competent judges, with a view to 
 contrast the solid, rational, and intellectual system of the High 
 School, with the expensive, visionary, and empirical schemes then 
 so much in vogue. In the end of December, when the class 
 had been scarcely three months in training, I ventured upon my 
 first public examination. It was attended by several of the pro- 
 fessors, clergymen of the city, and other literary characters, as 
 well as a large assemblage of auditors, who manifested the 
 deepest interest in the proceedings, and expressed the highest 
 approbation. The examination lasted five hours, and produced 
 a very great effect. I continued these examinations quarterly 
 for two years, and annually till the end of the course in 1839.
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 189 
 
 Reporters from some of the newspapers frequently attended, 
 who gave very favourable notices of the exhibitions. At one 
 and all of these examinations I commenced with stating, that I 
 considered the High School system, as then revised and enacted 
 by the town-council, and founded upon Classical, Arithmetical, 
 and Mathematical instruction, in connexion with the collateral 
 branches included under the head of General Knowledge, to be 
 the best that could be devised for conferring all the advantages 
 of a hberJ education ; and that I challenged comparison and 
 competition. By a singular coincidence, while I am writing this 
 letter, the dux of that class, whom I have not seen for six or 
 seven years, and who afterwards carried off the highest honours 
 in the rector's class, has just stepped in to pay me a visit. I 
 have requested him to favour me, in the fewest words possible, 
 with his recollections of the course of study which I then carried 
 out and justified in presence of the assembled citizens of Edin- 
 burgh, and he has at once handed me the following very gra- 
 tifying letter : 
 
 "EDINBURGH, 30th January 1849. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, It affords me much pleasure to give as complete 
 a retrospect as my memory will furnish of your system of teach- 
 ing, during the four years I received your instructions. First, 
 then, I distinctly recollect that you carefully read with us all 
 the classical books mentioned in the High School syllabus, as 
 forming the work of the years in which I attended your class. 
 Thus it will be seen, that you paid due attention to the classics. 
 Of all these books we read more than the quantity usually gone 
 through in classes of the same standing; nor was this done 
 in a superficial manner, as every word was parsed, the sentences 
 carefully analysed, peculiarities commented upon, and the inge- 
 nuity of the pupil exercised, and his comprehension insured, by his 
 being made to vary the passages in a number of ways. In ac- 
 quiring the rudiments of Latin and Greek, instead of being made 
 to go through merely a few examples of the nouns, adjectives, and 
 verbs, we declined and conjugated several thousands, and combined 
 them in a variety of ways. These, moreover, and especially the 
 verbs, we declined and conjugated in so many different modes, as 
 to preclude all possibility of learning them by rote, and ensure 
 the greatest accuracy and promptness in using them. During
 
 190 MR MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 the four years, we went several times entirely through Adam's 
 Grammar ; about six times (as nearly as I can recollect), through 
 Turner's Grammatical Exercises ; and nearly as often through 
 Mair's Introduction ; on both of which you bestowed much labour. 
 Besides the above, we had daily versions, both English and Latin, 
 to be done at home, and extempore translations from, and into 
 Latin, in the class. We went several times entirely through the 
 Greek Grammar and Vocabulary, with the same care that was 
 bestowed on the Latin. The same can be said of the French 
 Grammar. I recollect perfectly having read with you portions of 
 Eutropius, Aurelius Victor, Cornelius Nepos, Phsedrus, and Caesar. 
 How much we read in these I cannot recollect, but of the por- 
 tions read in the other Classics I have a distinct remembrance. 
 In Ovid we went through 450 lines from the beginning of the 
 Metamorphoses ; Pyramus and Thisbe, and the contest between 
 Ajax and Ulysses ; in Sallust, Cataline's conspiracy ; and in Vir- 
 gil, the whole of the Eclogues, and first four Books of the ^Eneid. 
 The above were carefully parsed, and the verse scanned, and great 
 part of it committed to memory ; it having been a common ex- 
 ercise to propose a word, and make the pupil quote a line in 
 which it occurred to quote parallel passages, &c. In Greek, 
 besides thorough preparation of the Grammar, the Fables, Face- 
 tiae of Hierocles, and Odes of Anacreon from the Analecta Mi- 
 nora were read and parsed ; as also the four Gospels, and Acts 
 of the Apostles. Besides the Classics, very great attention was 
 paid to English Grammar, Rhetoric, and the elements of Com- 
 position ; to Geography, Mythology, and Antiquities ; and to His- 
 tory, Roman, Grecian, and General. We got also short abstracts 
 of various processes in Arts and Manufactures ; of Natural His- 
 tory, and the properties of matter, &c. Mental Arithmetic formed 
 part of the daily business of the class ; and stated exercises were 
 prescribed in Landscape Drawing and Mapping. The class 
 was divided, first, into three large divisions, next into forms of 
 ten or fifteen, and subdivisions of five. You generally heard the 
 class by threes, so that each lesson was gone through three 
 times, whereas by the common mode it would have been but 
 once. You did not go straight round the class, but took the 
 three at the head or foot of each division, form, &c. You 
 varied the studies so that the mind might not flag by too close
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 191 
 
 an application to one task, gave us various relaxations, and often 
 from eight to ten minutes run in the playgrounds ; but, while 
 the lessons were being done, you exacted the most perfect atten- 
 tion, such as I have rarely seen in any class. By so much parsing, 
 and the thorough drilling upon the grammatical exercises, you 
 fixed the rules firmly in our minds, enabled us to comprehend 
 them, and thus gave the best introduction to Latin Composition 
 and Translation ; and as a proof that those rules (arranged by 
 yourself) were deeply impressed, I may say, that they are the 
 rules that even yet most readily occur to my mind ; and I have 
 found them the most definite and easily understood. Lastly, I 
 shall only mention, that you did not confine your attention to 
 the top boys, but often made it your boast, that the three boys 
 at the foot had more of your care than the rest of the class. 
 
 Books read. English, French, Latin, and Greek Grammars, 
 Grammatical Exercises, Hair's Introduction, Sententise Selectse, 
 Synopsis of the Greek, Latin, and French Languages, with 
 Themes, Latin Version Book (twice through), Eutropius and 
 Aurelius Victor, Cornelius Nepos, Phaedrus, Ovid, Caesar, Virgil, 
 Sallust ; a large number of Martial's Epigrams, with minute 
 scanning ; Greek Testament, Analecta Minora, History of Rome, 
 History of Greece, Figures of Rhetoric, Roman Antiquities. 
 
 Begging that you will excuse this hasty and imperfect com- 
 munication, I remain, with much esteem, your's truly, 
 
 " JOHN DOUGALL." 
 
 " Benjamin Mackay, Esq." 
 
 
 
 The consequence of the public examinations above referred to 
 was, that all attacks upon the school ceased; its system was 
 acknowledged on all hands to be so perfect, that neither secret 
 nor open enemies dared attack it, and we were permitted to go 
 on in peace during the time that I afterwards remained in the 
 establishment. 
 
 As teachers may feel a desire to hear and see something of the 
 plans of one who was so long their fellow labourer, I take the 
 liberty of subjoining for their consideration one or two of my 
 modes of arranging, managing, and teaching a High School class, 
 which were as follows :
 
 192 
 
 MR MACKAY'S 
 
 [APP. 
 
 BACK. 
 
 FORMS First Section of the First Division. 
 
 I. 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 First Section of the Second Division. 
 
 II. 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 Second Section of the Second Division. 
 
 III. 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 3 
 
 
 Second Section of the First Division. 
 
 ii IV. 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 Right Hand Passage. 
 
 33 
 
 S Third Section of the Second Division. 
 
 S v. i 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 First Section of the Third Division. 
 
 S VI. 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 i-l 
 Third Section of the First Division. 
 
 VII. 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 Second Section of the Third Division. 
 
 VIII. 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 Third Section of the Third Division. 
 
 IX. 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 Master's Desk. 
 
 FRONT. 
 
 Monitor's Desk 
 

 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OP EDUCATION. 193 
 
 The mode of arranging a class, represented in the diagram 
 on the preceding page, was adopted by me after numerous 
 experiments, and many years of consideration. It is as ap- 
 plicable to a class of three, as to one of three hundred, the 
 only difference being, that in the former case you have but one 
 monitor, tutor, or assistant, and two pupils or wards ; and in the 
 other, a hundred monitors, with two hundred pupils. The arrange- 
 ment is so simple that it may be understood in a few minutes, 
 and immediately put in operation, without any difficulty. It 
 proceeds upon the assumption, that where there is a certain num- 
 ber of pupils of the same standing as in the High School, pro- 
 perly trained and classified, the highest third may, while learning 
 new lessons themselves, be most advantageously employed, during 
 the greater part of any day, in acting as assistants or tutors, under 
 the master, and inculcating upon the other two divisions all his 
 instructions. It also proceeds upon the supposition, that he who 
 is teaching others is pursuing the best method of teaching him- 
 self. Suppose my class to consist of 135 pupils ; I formed it 
 into three great divisions, each division into three sections, and 
 each section into three sub-sections; so that there were three 
 great divisions of forty-five each, containing nine sections of 
 fifteen each, and twenty-seven sub-sections of five each, arranged 
 as above. The figures within the lines mark the sub-sections. 1 
 seated the boys of the first division upon the first, fourth, and 
 seventh forms ; the second division, upon the second, third, and 
 fifth forms ; the third division, upon the sixth, eighth, and ninth 
 forms. My desk stood in front, on the left, and the general mo- 
 nitor's on the right. I generally walked up and down in front, 
 between my own desk and that of the general monitor, who oc- 
 casionally communicated with me by handing a pencilled slip of 
 paper. I sometimes walked up the passages, and through among 
 all the divisions. This arrangement of the general class had nu- 
 merous advantages. It exhibited a fine picture of order, which 
 the boys, as well as myself, understood. Every boy knew his 
 place, and I knew where to find him, and how to designate him. 
 I could in a moment detect an absentee from his vacant place in 
 the section or sub-section to which he belonged. I could keep the 
 class in a constant state of activity, by calling them all up at once, 
 or in divisions, sections, or sub-sections. I could most conveni-
 
 194 MR MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 ently and promptly confer promotion, or inflict degradation, upon 
 any individual, according to his merit or demerit. It enabled me 
 to adopt thirty or forty modes of teaching and examining the class, 
 which the most arch and calculating could not anticipate ; nor 
 could they calculate when, how, or upon what part of the lesson 
 they were to be examined. But, perhaps, the chief advantage of 
 the system was, that it enabled me, in half a minute, to form my 
 class into divisions or triads, under forty-five able, accurate moni- 
 tors of my own training, upon whose fidelity I could place the 
 most perfect reliance in correcting exercises, explaining difficul- 
 ties, preparing new lessons, or revising old ones. My plan, too, 
 had this singular advantage that these monitors acted directly 
 and immediately under my own oral instructions, which they 
 conveyed every minute, fresh from my lips, to the pupils under 
 their charge. The first forty-five boys, of course, formed the 
 monitors to the other two divisions ; the dux placing himself be- 
 tween the forty-sixth and forty-seventh boy ; the second dux, be- 
 tween the forty-eighth and forty-ninth ; and so down to the foot 
 of the class. My mode of forming the divisions was as follows : 
 I first announced aloud, Prepare to form divisions, generally 
 explaining, that the process must not occupy more than half a 
 minute. I then called aloud, Form divisions, at the same time 
 using my whistle. The first five boys of the first form sat still, 
 the second five instantly descended by the right-hand passage to 
 act as monitors on the second form ; the third five took charge of 
 the third form ; while the boys of these two forms moved up to- 
 wards their right to form divisions of three, as above described. 
 The two remaining divisions formed exactly in the same manner, 
 the monitors of the second and third sub-sections descending by 
 the right-hand passage, and the others moving towards their own 
 right by the left-hand passage, to take their stations under the 
 monitors. All this, as I have said, was the work of half a mi- 
 nute. The class now formed forty-five divisions of three each, 
 and occupied the nine forms as before ; but the position of the 
 pupils was entirely changed. They now presented the spectacle 
 of ninety pupils, or wards, arranged two and two, the one on the 
 right, and the other on the left, of the monitors, tutors, or assist- 
 ant-teachers, who were in some degree answerable for their pro- 
 gress. I believe there was a great deal of mutual kindness be-
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 195 
 
 tween the parties, such as subsisted of old between the patrons 
 and clients of ancient Rome ; for I often observed the monitor, 
 on his arrival, greeted with a friendly hug, or shake of the hand. 
 The class being thus formed in divisions, I used the whistle, 
 and proceeded forthwith to call upon one of the monitors, often 
 the lowest, to read and construe the first sentence of the lesson. 
 This done, I put a few questions, to explain, and remove difficul- 
 ties ; after which he read it a second time, and challenged any 
 monitor within three of him. If the monitor could read the sen- 
 tence, as he generally could, I called out " Practise" upon which, 
 the forty-five monitors simultaneously read over the sentence, 
 requiring each of their pupils to do so after them, and to answer 
 any question proposed to him. In this way every sentence was 
 six times read over, and once, at least, by every boy in the class. 
 I then proceeded to the next sentence, going through the same 
 process till the prescribed lesson was read; when I generally 
 called upon some division or section to read the whole twice over. 
 Thus the new lesson was always eight times read before leaving 
 school, so that the pupils had merely to practise it at home, and 
 say it next forenoon in the general class. In this manner were 
 all the lessons for next day gone through, vocabulary and rules 
 of grammar repeated, and exercises corrected. The second day I 
 generally began at the foot, allowing each boy who said to chal- 
 lenge a boy above him in his own sub-section or section. The 
 class had generally three or four lessons a day, each consisting of 
 about ten or twelve lines. As the class advanced the lessons 
 were often longer. It was characteristic of my system that the 
 lessons were not begun in the morning, and finished in the after- 
 noon, as is customary in most schools, but begun in the afternoon, 
 practised at home, and said in the general class next forenoon. 
 I may here mention that my class construed and parsed Analy- 
 tically and Syntactically every word they read during the first 
 three years, and scanned every line of poetry during the whole 
 four years they attended me. They were equally well acquainted 
 with the quantity of initial, middle, and final syllables, proving 
 the two former when it was practicable by derivation and com- 
 position, and the latter by Ruddiman's Latin Rules. 
 
 In re-forming a general class, after they had been practising in 
 divisions, the boys generally returned in the same way as they had
 
 196 MB MACKAT'S [APP. 
 
 moved to form the divisions ; but sometimes I made the monitors 
 all move to their right, and seat themselves at the head of the nine 
 forms (marked 1), where they remained ready to form divisions 
 again if it should be necessary. This method had three advan- 
 tages ; first, it caused less stir ; secondly, it took less time, as divi- 
 sions could be formed or re-formed in a quarter ofaminute; where- 
 as the other method occupied half a minute ; and, thirdly, by it I 
 could bring any class, however numerous, most readily to its level, 
 both as to scholarship and talent ; it being only necessary to range 
 the pupils on forms,'in numbers divisible by three, such as fifteen, 
 eighteen, twenty-one, twenty-four, &c., and subject each form to a 
 separate and minute examination, bringing all the best scholars 
 to the top in the compartments marked No. 1, and immediately 
 employing one-third as monitors to the other two-thirds, who sat 
 on the same forms. Although it may appear somewhat para- 
 doxical and startling, I assert, that by the above methods a class 
 of three hundred pupils may be taught with as much ease and 
 efficiency as one of fifteen. These methods, therefore, appear to 
 me the perfection of the monitorial system. I tried several other 
 methods of arrangement, but regarded these two as by far the 
 best. When I was to examine the class in presence of strangers, 
 I sometimes moved the third section of the first division to the 
 ninth form just in front of me. This always appeared to me like 
 a fine military arrangement with my best troops at both extre- 
 mities and in the centre. I think these explanations, read in 
 connexion with the diagram, will enable any one to understand 
 my arrangements which I recommend to the attention of' all 
 teachers who wish to make a class do the greatest amount of 
 work in the shortest time, and do it well. 
 
 It was a daily exercise of the class at meeting, simultaneously 
 to stand up, and chant a stanza of a sacred hymn, which had a 
 very fine effect in composing the mind. This was also occa- 
 sionally done through the day, in order to relieve the languor or 
 ennui caused by continued application ; the three divisions in 
 triads sometimes promenading for a minute or two round the 
 room, and then returning to their seats in perfect order. 
 
 I regret to find that this letter has extended to such a length ; 
 but the High School is to me an interesting subject. I have now 
 only to express my sincere wish that some of the hints which J
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 197 
 
 have thrown out may prove of service to that institution, or to the 
 general cause of education. It was with considerable reluctance 
 that I sat down to write on these subjects. I am now getting 
 into the vale of years, and my mental vision is not so clear as it 
 once was, but as I believed it might be the last opportunity I 
 should have of recording seme peculiarities in my practice during 
 forty-two years spent in the arduous duties of public instruction, 
 I thought it but right to overcome my scruples. The opinions of 
 a veteran like myself may have a little weight, and may furnish 
 some useful hints. Education is a subject on which there exists, 
 and will always exist, a great diversity of opinion. Plato said, 
 2300 years ago, " that the best system of education for both sexes 
 is that which gives to the mind and to the body all the force, all the 
 beauty, and all the perfection of which they are capable." In that 
 opinion of the great philosopher I cheerfully concur. It must be 
 admitted that vigour of mind is intimately connected with health 
 and strength of body. In youth particularly, much exercise is 
 necessary for the full development of the bodily organs. For this 
 reason, I have always been delighted to see boys take a great deal 
 of exercise in the open air. Up to the age of sixteen, they ought 
 not to be confined to study more than five or six hours a day, and 
 I think they ought always to have Saturday to themselves. The 
 boys of the High School have a fine run in their own playground, 
 and they ought to show that they appreciate it. The more 
 exercise young people take, the healthier and more vigorous 
 they become. Hard protracted study in early youth cramps the 
 mind as well as the body. Exercise cannot be neglected with 
 impunity in manhood or old age any more than in youth. Since 
 I retired from the High School I have benefited much by exer- 
 cise. During the last five years I have walked at least twenty 
 thousand miles, either in my native country or in foreign lands. 
 It is to a habit of early rising that, under Providence, I attribute 
 chiefly my ability to have discharged the duties of a laborious 
 profession so long. All young people should act upon the old 
 maxim, " Early to bed, early to rise." But at whatever hour 
 boys may be required to get up, I would have them to consider 
 walking, running, leaping, hand-ball, foot-ball, cricket, shinty, 
 bathing, fishing, &c., as the appropriate amusements and recrea- 
 tions of their vacant hours ; and, if they take my advice, they
 
 198 MR MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 will, up to the age I have mentioned, devote to these exercises 
 nearly as much of their time as to their daily lessons. I recom- 
 mend to them to pay frequent visits to Arthur's Seat, Corstor- 
 phine Hill, and even to the Pentlands. The view of the sur- 
 rounding country is beautiful, and, besides the exercise, -will thus 
 amply compensate them for the trouble. 
 
 Every High School boy knows that Sir Walter Scott was a 
 pupil of the High School, and he cannot pass along to the Calton 
 Hill without remarking and feeling proud of the splendid monu- 
 ment in Princes Street erected by his fellow countrymen to 
 his immortal memory. In speaking of Sir Walter's early habits, 
 education, and genius, the celebrated Harriet Martineau repre- 
 sents him in youth as " strengthening his constitution by exercise, 
 roaming or lying about in the fields, reading novels, spearing 
 salmon, and coming out of that wild sort of discipline robust as a 
 ploughman, able to walk like a pedlar, industrious as a handi- 
 craftsman, intrepid as the bravest hero of his own immortal works, 
 and withal by self-culture becoming, in the best sense of the 
 words, deeply learned, and graced with the rarest combination of 
 qualifications for enjoying existence, achieving fame, and blessing 
 society." 
 
 To fond parents whp are anxious for the rapid improvement of 
 their children, and for early displays of their mental precocity, it 
 may be satisfactory to be informed, that many of the most dis- 
 tinguished men that ever lived, the greatest warriors, philoso- 
 phers, and poets ; men who achieved the greatest results on the 
 theatre of life, who have filled the world with their renown, who 
 have stamped their own characters upon the age in which they 
 lived, who have been the true representatives of the spirit and 
 ideas of their time, who have bequeathed to posterity their 
 " thoughts that breathe and words that burn," have not always 
 been remarkable in early youth for either high mental cultiva- 
 tion or precocity of genius. Take as examples, Napoleon, Wel- 
 lington, the great warriors of modern days ; Nelson, Scott and 
 Byron, Shakespeare and Sir Isaac Newton. Of Napoleon, we 
 are assured on the best authority, that when a child he was 
 merely distinguished by good health, but in other respects 
 was like other boys ; of his illustrious conqueror, I have been 
 told, that in boyhood he showed no great aptitude for scholastic
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 199 
 
 studies, and to an ordinary eye was chiefly remarkable for a fond- 
 ness of jokes, music, and musical instruments. Nelson, the great- 
 est naval hero of our age, in early youth showed a hatred of the 
 King's service, of which he was one day to become the brightest 
 ornament. His martial achievements and his famous signal, 
 " England expects every man to do his duty," have immortalized 
 his name. Of Sir Walter Scott I have just spoken as chiefly 
 delighting in field sports and romances, yet rising to the very 
 pinnacle of earthly fame. Byron never attained to high scholar- 
 ship, though possessing the same advantages as Sir Robert Peel, 
 who was early distinguished for proficiency in science and litera- 
 ture; but he displayed great eccentricity and sometimes tur- 
 bulence of character ; spent a good deal of his time in boxing 
 and fencing ; annoyed his neighbours by keeping a bear and 
 bull-dogs. His first literary production gave scarcely any indi- 
 cation of superior genius, but the severe handling which this 
 juvenile work received from the Edinburgh Review produced that 
 burst of talent, spite, revenge, and satirical indignation, the " Eng- 
 lish Bards and Scotch Reviewers," a production which was after- 
 wards quite eclipsed by the splendid poem of Childe Harold, and 
 the inimitable, though sometimes immoral, Don Juan. Of Shake- 
 speare, the accounts are very contradictory ; the most probable 
 is, that from the poverty of his parents he received a very limited 
 classical education, but by self-cultivation and high genius sur- 
 mounted every difficulty, and attained to that imperishable fame, 
 with which he will descend to latest posterity. The celebrated 
 Adam Clarke was pronounced in boyhood " a grievous dunce," 
 good for nothing but rolling large stones and making gigantic 
 snowballs. Brinsley Sheridan was considered at Dublin and at 
 Harrow " an impenetrable dunce," with whom neither severity 
 nor indulgence could avail. 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton says of himself, that he was at first very in- 
 attentive to study, and ranked very low in school until the age of 
 twelve ; when at length, as we are informed by his biographer Sir 
 David Brewster, the boy above him in the class, having one day 
 given him a severe kick in the stomach, which occasioned him 
 great pain, Isaac laboured incessantly till he got above the boy, 
 and from that time he continued to rise till he was the head boy 
 of the school. He employed much of his boyhood in watching
 
 200 MR MACKAY'S [APP. 
 
 the motions of water-wheels, constructing wind-mills, water-clocks, 
 and sun-dials, taking little interest in scholastic studies till this 
 incident occurred. He was a posthumous child, the orphan son 
 of a poor widow, who could scarcely afford to keep him at school, 
 and often sent him to market to dispose of farm produce and pur- 
 chase necessary articles. Yet for this surprising youth was re- 
 served the glory of demonstrating the laws of gravitation, and 
 making other most extraordinary discoveries which have immor- 
 talized his name. Pope says of him, 
 
 " Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night ; 
 God said, ' Let Newton be,' and all was light." 
 
 It is said that Sir Isaac was first led to turn his thoughts to 
 the laws of gravitation by seeing from his window an apple drop 
 from a tree in his garden ! Newton's modesty was equal to his 
 genius, ascribing whatever he had accomplished not to any 
 peculiar talent with which nature had endowed him, but to 
 perseverance and the habit of patient and continuous thought. 
 A short time before his death he remarked, " I know not what 
 I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been 
 like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now 
 and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordi- 
 nary, while the great ocean of truth lies undiscovered before me ;" 
 thus beautifully and powerfully contrasting the littleness of human 
 knowledge with the extent of human ignorance, and manifesting 
 his conviction, that discovery was yet in its infancy, and that 
 most of the great secrets of nature were still unexplored. 
 
 There is but one important topic, I think, connected with my 
 practice, not touched in this letter I mean scholastic discipline. 
 Now, in whatever light I might appear to my pupils, it was al- 
 ways my wish to be good-natured and indulgent, in so far as I 
 believed it to be consistent with their true interests. I was 
 anxious to blend, as far as order would permit, the dulce with 
 the utile, administering as small an admixture as possible of the 
 amarum. If the last ingredient sometimes preponderated, it 
 might be found, upon investigation, that the symptoms of the 
 patient justified the nature of the prescription. While, there- 
 fore, I entirely disapprove of severity, I maintain the absolute 
 necessity of discipline, strict, undeviating, uncompromising 
 discipline, in all seminaries of education. Without it, there
 
 NO. X.] SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 201 
 
 would be nothing but idleness, disobedience, and insubordination. 
 Every thing would get into disorder and anarchy. Connected 
 with this subject, there is an anecdote of the late celebrated Dr 
 Parr, which I very much admire. It has been alleged that the 
 Doctor, while an instructor of youth, was rather a strict disci- 
 plinarian, and that, in order the more effectually to enforce and 
 impress his instructions, he made a pretty free use of the birch. 
 On one occasion, in a public company, a petulant young fellow 
 thought proper to address him aloud in the following terms : 
 " Dr Parr, Have you given up yet that abominable habit of flog- 
 ging?" At first, the Doctor took no notice, nor pretended to 
 hear him ; but, upon a repetition of the question, turning to- 
 wards the young man with great dignity and sternness, he said, 
 " Sir, Discipline is necessary to form a soldier, discipline is neces- 
 sary to form a scholar, it is also necessary to form a gentleman, 
 and the want of discipline, Sir, has made you what you are" 
 
 After all, I regard him as the most skilful teacher, who stimu- 
 lates his pupils to exertion rather by motives acting on the 
 mind than by stripes on the body ; by mental pleasure rather 
 than by corporal pain. The birch is utterly unknown in the 
 High School. Flogging, during the present century, has fallen 
 into complete disuse. In my own class, there was not a single 
 instance of it during my long connexion with the seminary ; nor 
 did I ever hear of it in any of the other classes. The taws, no 
 doubt, was generally at hand, but it was considered rather as a 
 convenient concomitant of authority, and quickener of motion 
 and action, than as an instrument of degrading punishment. 
 When applied, however, it was, I believe, regarded as rather 
 painful than pleasant ; though I have often heard the lads in 
 after-life allude as humorously, as loudly, and as joyously to 
 the palmy days they had passed in the High School, as if they 
 had been there presented with palm branches as badges of dis- 
 tinction and emblems of victory. Hence, I infer, the infliction 
 had left little soreness behind it. The usual punishment of tri- 
 vial delinquencies, such as occasional idleness or neglect of duty, 
 was either loss of rank in the class, or a supernumerary exercise 
 called a pcena. The former of these is generally severe enough 
 for an ingenuous mind. Of the pcena, though a literary task of 
 a useful nature, the boys were very unfond, regarding it at once
 
 202 MR MACKAY'S SYSTEM, &c. [APP. 
 
 as a sore imposition, a severe punishment, and a great bore. 
 From the general tone of good feeling among the boys, their 
 correct moral conduct, their prompt obedience to their masters, 
 and readiness to do their duty, punishments of any description 
 were not often necessary. Grave offences against morality were 
 always punished with expulsion, but these were of very rare oc- 
 currence ; not oftener, on an average, than once or twice in a 
 quarter of a century. In the High School, any gross violation 
 of the principles of morality is sure to call forth from the whole 
 classes a burst of virtuous indignation, which proves the care 
 bestowed upon the early instruction of the pupils by their parents 
 and teachers. 
 
 In conclusion, it is my decided opinion, after a very long expe- 
 rience, that pupils educated at the High School ought to come out, 
 at the age of fifteen or sixteen, not only well instructed in the 
 Latin and Greek Classics, and the other branches preparatory 
 for College and the learned professions, but in Geometry, Practical 
 Mathematics, Algebra, and all those parts of elementary know- 
 ledge necessary for admission into the army and navy, the 
 counting-house, and any other department of civil life that may 
 present itself ; thus superadding to their classical learning a valu- 
 able stock of Scientific and General Knowledge. But, with all 
 the advantages of such a course, the pupil must still be reminded 
 that, comprehensive and excellent as any system of education may 
 be, it can never supersede the necessity of future study and self- 
 cultivation on his own part, even after he has gone through the 
 whole curriculum. The most proper course of study may have 
 been prescribed, the masters may have discharged their duty 
 with the utmost fidelity, both in cultivating the understanding, and 
 instilling the best principles ; they may have succeeded in laying a 
 solid and broad foundation, but it is the pupil's individual efforts 
 that must rear and complete the fabric. It is to the exercise of 
 his own powers, to the force of his own character, and the sound- 
 ness of his moral principles that he is to look forward for success 
 and honourable distinction in life. A good system of education 
 may do much for a man ; it may train his mind and correct his 
 habits ; it may smooth his path ; it may put him in the most 
 favourable position for exercising his faculties ; but if he is am- 
 bitious to rise to usefulness and eminence among his fellow men, he
 
 N<>. XI.] HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. 203 
 
 must think for himself; he must read and study ; listen and ob- 
 serve ; remember and compare, reflect and reason ; and he must 
 exercise much consideration and forethought in order to calculate 
 chances, weigh consequences, and anticipate results. With all 
 this he must pursue his object with undeviating steadiness and 
 indomitable perseverance " with an eye that never winks, and a 
 wing that never tires." He who acts in this manner, with a due 
 regard to health, and an humble dependence upon Divine Pro- 
 vidence, needs not despair of success, nor of being one day a 
 discoverer in nature, in art, or in science, the architect of his 
 own fortune, and a benefactor to his species. 
 
 BENJAMIN MACKAY. 
 
 No. XI. 
 
 CATALOGUE OF A FEW OF THE PERSONS OF EMINENCE AND RANK 
 EDUCATED AT THE HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 THE period of attendance is reckoned from the year in which the 
 pupil entered the school. The usual practice is to remain under 
 one of the classical masters four consecutive sessions, and two 
 years, or at least one, under the rector. In the first list, which 
 consists of deceased pupils, the names of the teachers under whom 
 each scholar studied are printed in italics. 1 
 
 Adam, Robert, Architect to Geo. III., and M.P. for Kinross- 
 shire. Anderson, 1740; Lees, Rector, 1741, 1742. 
 
 Adam, William (son of the preceding), Lord Chief Commis- 
 sioner of the Jury Court in Scotland. French, 1760-1763; 
 Matheson, R. 1764. 
 
 Agnew, Sir Andrew, of Lochnaw, Bart. Fraser, 1773-1776 ; 
 Adam, R. 1777, 1778. 
 
 Alexander, William, Lord Chief Baron of England Bartlet, 
 
 1763, 1764 ; Matheson, R. 1765. 
 
 ' In most cases the lists of each session are in the handwriting of the 
 respective teachers ; but in some of the early years the signature of 
 every boy in the class is given. In the event of another edition, a fuller 
 list of pupils will be given ; and notices of old High School scholars, if 
 forwarded to our publishers, will be most acceptable.
 
 204 HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. [APP. 
 
 Arbuthnot, Sir William, Bart., Lord Provost of Edinburgh. 
 Fraser, 1773-1776 ; Adam, R. 1777, 1778. 
 
 Bannatyne, Sir William M'Leod, Lord Bannatyne, one of 
 the Judges of the Court of Session in Scotland. Lees, R. 1755, 
 1756. 
 
 Beatson, William-Stuart, Commissary-General, Bengal. See 
 APP. p. 135. 
 
 Bell, Sir Charles, Professor of Surgery in the University of 
 Edinburgh, and author of the Bridgewater Treatise on " The 
 Hand." Cruickshank, 1784-1786 ; Adam, R. 1787, 1788. 
 
 Bell, George-Joseph, Professor of Scots Law in the University 
 of Edinburgh, and author of a Treatise on the Law of Scotland. 
 Cruickshank, 1784-1786 ; Adam, R. 1787, 1788. 
 
 Bell, John, Surgeon in Edinburgh ; author of the treatise on 
 " Gunshot Wounds," &c. French, 1768-1771 ; Adam, R. 1772, 
 1773. 
 
 Bell, Robert, Lecturer on Conveyancing to the Society of 
 Writers to H. M. Signet, and author of the " Forms of Deeds," 
 &c. Adam, R. 1772. 
 
 Belsches, Sir John Stuart, of Invermay, Bart., one of the 
 Barons of Exchequer in Scotland. French, 1760-1763. 
 
 Berry, Robert, afterwards Ferguson of Raith, M.P. for Hadding- 
 tonshire, and Lord Lieutenant of Fifeshire. Fraser, 1777-1780. 
 
 Berry, afterwards General Sir Ronald Crawford Ferguson 
 (brother of the preceding), G.C.B., M.P. for Nottingham. 
 Nicol, 1778. 
 
 Binning, Charles, Lord, afterwards 8th Earl of Haddington. 
 French, 1765-1767 ; Adam, R. 1768. 
 
 Blair, Hugh, D.D., Edinburgh, author of Sermons, and Lec- 
 tures on Rhetoric and the Belles Lettres. Arbuthnot, R. 1729. 
 
 Blair, Robert, Minister of Athelstaneford, and author of " The 
 Grave, a Poem." Skene, R. 1711. 
 
 Blair, Robert, of Avontown (son of the preceding), Lord Pre- 
 sident of the Court of Session. MatJieson, R. 1764, 1765. 
 
 Blair, Robert, D.D., Rector of Barton Saint Andrews, in 
 Barton Bendish, County of Norfolk. Fraser, 1771-1773 ; Adam, 
 R. 1774, 1775. 
 
 Blantyre, Robert-Walter, llth Lord. Nicol, 1784, 1785; 
 Adam, R. 1786.
 
 NO. XI.] HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. 205 
 
 Boswell, James, the biographer of Dr Samuel Johnson. Gil- 
 christ, 1756. 
 
 Bruce, John, of Falkland, Professor of Logic in the University 
 of Edinburgh, and afterwards Historiographer to the Hon. E. I. 
 Company. Matheson, R. 1761. 
 
 Campbell, Colonel John (second son of Lord Stonefield), who 
 distinguished himself at the siege of Mangalore. French, 1759- 
 1763. 
 
 Campbell, Sir Archibald, Bart., Lord Succoth, one of the 
 Judges of the Court of Session. Cruickshank, 1777-1780 ; 
 Adam, R. 1781, 1782/ 
 
 Campbell, John, younger of Succoth, M.P. for Dumbarton- 
 shire. See APP. p. 136. 
 
 Campbell, Sir Neil.Fraser, 1784. 
 
 Cauvin, Louis, Teacher of French in Edinburgh, and founder 
 of an Educational Hospital in the vicinity of Edinburgh. French, 
 1763-1766; Adam, R. 1767, 1768. 
 
 Cheyne, John, M.D., Physician- General to H.M. Forces in 
 Ireland, and author of " Essays on Partial Derangement of 
 the Mind in supposed connexion with Religion." Adam, R. 
 1788. 
 
 Cleghorn, Hugh, Professor of Civil History, St Andrews. 
 French, 1762; Matheson, R. 1763. 
 
 Golden, Cadwallader, author of " The Life of Fulton." New 
 York, ISn.Fraser, 1787. 
 
 Combe, Andrew, M.D., Physician to the Queen for Scotland, 
 and Honorary Physician to the King and Queen of the Belgians ; 
 author of " Physiology applied to Physical and Mental Educa- 
 tion," &c. Irvine, 1805-1809; Pillans, R. 1809. 
 
 Coutts, Thomas, Banker in London. Roe, 1743-1745 ; Lees, 
 R. 1746, 1747. 
 
 Craigie, Robert, Lord Craigie, one of the Judges of the Court 
 of Session. Bartlet, 1762, 1763 ; Matheson, R. 1764. 
 
 Cruickshanks, William, Surgeon, London, author of "The 
 Anatomy of the Absorbent Vessels of the Human Body." Lees, 
 R. 1758. 
 
 Davidson, Joshua-Henry, First Physician to the Queen for 
 Scotland. Eraser, 1793-1796 ; Adam, R. 1797, 1798. 
 
 Dick, Sir Alexander-Cunningham, of Prestonfield, Bart.,
 
 206 HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. [AIT. 
 
 M.D., President of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 
 Skene, R. 1716. 
 
 Dick, Sir William, of Prestonfield, Bart. Fraser, 1769-1772 ; 
 Adam, R. 1773, 1774. 
 
 Dick, Sir Robert-Keith, of Prestonfield, Bart. French, 1783- 
 1786 ; Adam, R. 1787. 
 
 Douglas, Charles, 5th Marquess of Queensberry. Fraser, 1785- 
 1788. 
 
 Douglas, David, Lord Reston, one of the Judges of the Court 
 of Session Fraser, 1777-1780 ; Adam, R. 1781, 1782. 
 
 Doune, Lord, afterwards 10th Earl of Moray. French, 1772- 
 1775. 
 
 Drummond, George, six times Lord Provost of Edinburgh. 
 Skene, R. 1699. 
 
 Drummond, William, of Hawthornden, the Poet and His- 
 torian. Rollock, R. 1599. 
 
 Duncan, Andrew, jun., M.D., Professor of Materia Medica in 
 the Univ. of Edinburgh. Cruickshank, 1780-1783 ; Adam, R. 
 1784, 1785. 
 
 Dundas, Charles, M.P. for Orkney and Shetland. Gilchrist, 
 1758. See APP. p. 57. 
 
 Dundas, Robert, of Arniston, Lord Chief Baron of the Court 
 of Exchequer in Scotland. Farquhar, 1764 ; Adam, R. 
 
 Dundas, Major-General Thomas. Gilchrist, 1758. See APP. 
 p. 58. 
 
 Dundas, William, Lord Clerk Register of Scotland, M.P. for 
 Edinburgh. Adam, R. 1771. 
 
 Dunglas, Lord, afterwards 10th Earl of Home. Adam, R. 
 1783. 
 
 Durham, General James, of Largo. Matheson, 1764. 
 
 Erroll, William, 16th Earl of. Cruickshank, 1779. 
 
 Erskine, John, D.D., Edinburgh ; author of " Theological 
 Dissertations," &c. Lees, R. 1732. 
 
 Erskine, Thomas, afterwards Lord Chancellor of England. 
 On the authority of the Annual Register for 1823 the name is 
 here inserted. Erskine first attended the High School of Edin- 
 burgh, and then, as we have stated in page 134 of our text was 
 under Mr Halket, at St Andrews. 
 
 Erskine, William, " the chief literary confidant and counsellor
 
 NO. XI.J HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. 207 
 
 of Sir Walter Scott ;" afterwards Lord Kinnedder, one of the 
 Judges of the Court of Session. Adam, R. 1782, 1783. 
 
 Ewing, Oreville, of the Independent Church, Glasgow ; author 
 of a Greek and English Scripture Lexicon. French, 1776- 
 1778. 
 
 Ferguson, George, Lord Hermand, one of the Judges of the 
 Court of Session. Lees, R. 1755, 1756. 
 
 Ferguson, Robert, the Poet. Gilchrist, 1758-1761. 
 
 Forbes, Sir William, of Pitsligo, Bart. See APP. p. 131. 
 
 Fettes, Sir William, 1 Bart., Lord Provost of Edinburgh. 
 Gilchrist, 1758, 1759. 
 
 Gilchrist, John-Borthunck, Professor of Hindostanee in the 
 College of Fort William. Adam, R. 1773. 
 
 Gray, Charles, afterwards 13th Baron Gray, of Gray and Kin- 
 fauns. Matheson, R. 1764. 
 
 Grant, Lewis-Alexander, 6th Earl of Seafield. Nicul, 1774- 
 1777 ; Adam, R. 1778. 
 
 Greig, Sir Alexis, Admiral in the Russian service, for many 
 years Commander-in- Chief of the Fleet in the Black Sea, Mem- 
 ber of the Imperial Council, Knight of all the Russian Orders. 
 French, 1783-1785; Christis&n, 1786; Adam, R. 1787. 
 
 Hall, Captain Basil, R.N., author of Voyages, &c. Fraser, 
 1797-1800. 
 
 Haldane, Robert, of Auchingray, author of an " Exposition of 
 the Epistle to the Romans." Adam, R. 1778. 
 
 Halyburton, Lord Douglas-Gordon, (son of the 4th Earl of 
 Aboyne), M.P. for Forfarshire. Fraser, 1785-1789; Adam, R. 
 1790. 
 
 Hamilton, George, D.D., Gladsmuir, Moderator of the General 
 Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1805. French, 1768- 
 1770; Adam, R. 1771. 
 
 Hamilton, Robert, LL.D., Professor of Mathematics, Maris- 
 chal College, Aberdeen, and author of the " Inquiry concerning 
 the Rise and Progress, the Redemption, and Present [1813] 
 State of the National Debt of Great Britain," Sic. Lees, R. 
 1755. 
 
 1 Sir William Fettes bequeathed the greater part of his large estate to 
 form an endowment for the maintenance, education, and outfit of young 
 people, whose parents have fallen into adverse circumstances.
 
 208 HIGH SCHOOL PDPILS. [AVI 1 . 
 
 Hay, George, afterwards 6th Marquess of Tweeddale. Gil- 
 christ, 1763, 1764; Matheson, R. 1765. 
 
 Henderson, Sir Robert, of Fordell, Bart. Fraser, 1770-1773 ; 
 Adam, R. 1774. 
 
 Hepburn, Sir John-Buchan, of Smeaton, Bart. Adam, R. 
 1780. 
 
 Heriot, George, Postmaster-General of British North Ame- 
 rica, and author of " Travels through the Canadas. Fraser, 
 1772; Adam, R. 1773. 
 
 Heriot, John (brother of the preceding), Comptroller of Chel- 
 sea Hospital. Fraser, 1772 ; Adam, R. 1773. 
 
 Home, Patrick, of Wedderburn, M.P. for Berwickshire. 
 Lees, R. 1742. 
 
 Hope, Admiral Sir George, one of the Lords of the Admi- 
 ralty. Fraser, 1775-1778. 
 
 Hope, John, an eminent General, afterwards 4th Earl of 
 Hopetoun. Nicol, 1775-1778 ; Adam, R. 1779. 
 
 Hope, Lieut. -General Sir John, G.C.H., who served under 
 Wellington in the Peninsula. Adam, R. 1778. 
 
 Hope, Admiral Sir William, one of the Lords of the Admi- 
 ralty. Fraser, 1775, 1776. 
 
 Horner, Francis. See APP. p. 132. 
 
 Hume, David, one of the Barons of Exchequer, and author of 
 a treatise on the " Criminal Law of Scotland." French, 1765, 
 1766 ; Matheson, R. 1767. 
 
 Hutcheson, Gilbert, Judge Advocate of Scotland, and author of 
 the "Justice of Peace." French, 1776-1779 ; Adam, R. 1780. 
 
 Button, James, M.D., author of the " Theory of the Earth. "- 
 Lees, R. 1738, 1739. 
 
 Inveruruy, Anthony-Adrian, Lord, afterwards 8th Earl of 
 Kintore. Christison, 1803-1805; Carson, 1806; Adam, R. 
 1807. 
 
 Irvine, Alexander, Lord Newton, one of the Judges of the 
 Court of Session. Fraser, 1773-1776; Adam,R. 1777. 
 
 Keill, John, Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the University 
 of Oxford. Skew, R. 1684. 
 
 Keith-Elphinstone, George, Viscount Keith, K.B., Admiral of 
 the Red, &c. Roe, 1754. 
 
 Kincaid, Alexander, Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Rae, 1738.
 
 NO. XI.] HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. 209 
 
 Lauder, Sir John, Lord Fountainhall. About 1659. 
 
 Lander, Sir Thomas Dick, of Fountainhall, Bart., author of 
 "Account of the Floods in Moray," &c. Cruickshank, 1794; 
 Gririe, 1795. 
 
 Law, John, of Lauriston, Comptroller-General of the Finances 
 of France, under the regency of Orleans. About 1683. 
 
 Lothian, William, D.D., author of the " History of the United 
 Provinces of the Netherlands." Lees, R. 1753. 
 
 Macdonald, Colonel John. Adam, R. 1770. See p. 209, et seq. 
 
 Macgregor, Colonel Peter-Murray. Gilchrist, 1762-1764. 
 See p. 139, et seq. 
 
 Mackenzie, Sir George-Steuart, of Coul, Bart., author of 
 " Travels in Iceland." Christison, 1795, 1796. 
 
 Mackenzie, Henry, author of the " Man of Feeling," &c. 
 Farquhar, 1753-1756 ; Lees, R. 1757. See p. 102, et seq. 
 
 Macknight, Thomas, D.D., Edinburgh ; Moderator of the 
 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1820. Bartlet, 
 1772 ; Cruickshank, 1773 ; Adam, R. 1774. 
 
 Maclaurin, John, Lord Dreghorn, one of the Judges of the 
 Court of Session. Roe, 1745, 1746 ; Lees, R. 1747. 
 
 Maconochie, Allan, Lord Meadowbank, one of the Judges of 
 the Court of Session. About 1755. 
 
 Macvicar, Neil, Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Gilchrist, 1751- 
 1753 ; Lees, R. 1754, 1755. 
 
 M'Clteyne, Robert-Murray, Minister of St. Peter's Church, 
 Dundee ; one of the Deputation from the Church of Scotland 
 to Palestine in 1839. Irvine, 1821-1824 ; Carson, R. 1825, 1826. 
 
 Maitland, Lord James, afterwards 8th Earl of Lauderdale. 
 Gilchrist, 1765, 1766; Fraser, 1767, 1768; Adam, R. 1769, 
 1770. 
 
 Maitland, Right Hon. Sir Thomas (brother of the preceding), 
 Governor of Malta. Gilchrist, 1765, 1766; Fraser, 1767,1768; 
 Adam, R. 1769, 1770. 
 
 Maitland, Rear Admiral Sir Frederick-Lewis, K.C.B. 
 Fraser, 1788; Adam, R. 1789, 1790. 
 
 Makdougall, Sir Henry-Hay, of Makerstoun, Bart. Ander- 
 son, 1744-1747 ; Lees, R. 1748. 
 
 Manderston, John, Lord Provost of Edinburgh Cruicksliank, 
 1772. 
 
 O
 
 210 HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. [APP. 
 
 Marjoribanks, Campbell, Chairman of the Directors of the 
 H. E. I. Company. Farquhar, 1756, 1767. 
 
 Marjoribanks, Sir John, Bart., Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 
 and M.P. for Berwickshire. Cruickshank, 1776 ; Adam, R. 
 1777. 
 
 Marjoribanks, Stewart, M.P. for Hythe. Christison, 1786 ; 
 Adam, R. 1787, 1788. 
 
 Maxwell, Sir William, of Monreith, Bart. Adam, R. 1708. 
 
 Menzies, Sir Neil, of Menzies, Bart., Honorary Secretary to 
 the Highland Society of Scotland Nicol, 1787-1789 ; Adam, 
 R. 1790, 1791. 
 
 Miller, Sir William, Bart., Lord Glenlee, one of the Judges 
 of the Court of Session. Bartlet, 1764, 1765. 
 
 Milne, Admiral Sir David, of Milnegraden. Bartkt, 1770- 
 1773 ; Adam, R. 1774, 1775. 
 
 Montgomery, Sir James, of Stanhope, Bart., sometime Lord 
 Advocate of Scotland. Fraser, 1773-1777 ; Adam, R. 1778. 
 
 Murray, Sir George, M.P. for Perthshire, Master-General of 
 the Ordnance. Cruickshank, 1781-1783 ; Adam, R. 1784. 
 
 Murray, Sir Patrick (brother of the preceding), one of the 
 Barons of Exchequer in Scotland. French, 1781, 1782 ; Adam, 
 R. 1783, 1784. 
 
 Murray, James-Wolfe, Lord Cringletie, one of the Judges of 
 the Court of Session. Fraser, 1767, 1768 ; Adam, R. 1769. 
 
 Mutter, Lieut.-Col. James, 3d Regiment. Fraser, 1779, 
 1780; Adam, R. 1781. 
 
 Mutter, Joseph, afterwards Lieut. -General Sir Joseph Straton. 
 of Kirkside. Fraser, 1785-1788 ; Adam, R. 1789. 
 
 Mylne, Robert, Architect of Blackfriars' Bridge, and Surveyor 
 of St Paul's Cathedral. Barclay, 1742-1745 ; Lees, R. 1746, 
 1747. 
 
 Mylne, William (brother of the preceding), Architect, Edin- 
 burgh. Barclay, 1742-1745 ; Lees, R. 1746, 1747. 
 
 Nisbet, Sir John, of Dean, Bart. Adam, R. 1781, 1782. 
 
 Oswald, Richard-Alexander, of Auchincruive, M.P. for Ayr- 
 shire. Adam, R. 1783, 1784. 
 
 Patterson, John-Brown. See APP. p. 137. 
 
 Pittenweem, Lord, afterwards Earl of Kelly, distinguished as a 
 Musical Composer. Anderson, 1744 ; Lees, R. 1745.
 
 NO. XI.] HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. 211 
 
 Primrose, Neil, Lord, 3d Earl of Rosebery. Roe, 1757. 
 
 Roe, Sir William, Bart., sometime Lord Advocate for Scot- 
 land. Nicol, 1780, 1781 ; Adam, R. 1782. 
 
 Ramsay, Lord George, afterwards 9th Earl of Dalhousie, 
 Governor of Canada, Sic.Nicol, 1780, 1781 ; Adam, R. 1782. 
 
 Ramsay, Allan, Portrait Painter to King George III. Ar- 
 buthnot, R. 1726. 
 
 Robertson, William, Lord Robertson, eldest son of the histo- 
 rian, one of the Judges of the Court of Session. Gilchrist, 1762- 
 1765. 
 
 Rosehill, Lord, eldest son of the Earl of Northesk. Gilchrist, 
 1761. 
 
 Ross, Sir Charles Lockhart, of Balnagowan and Bonnington, 
 Bart. Fraser, 1769-1772 ; Adam, R. 1773. 
 
 Ross, Matthew, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates. Farquhar, 
 1760, 1761 ; Matheson, R. 1762. 
 
 Ross, Walter, author of " Lectures on Conveyancing." Far- 
 quhar, 1760, 1761. 
 
 Russell, James, Professor of Surgery in the University of 
 Edinburgh. Gikhrist, 1761-1764. 
 
 Russell, Alexander, author of the " History of Aleppo."- 
 About 1714. 
 
 Sandford, Sir Daniel-Keyt, Kt., D.C.L. Oxon., Professor of 
 Greek in the University of Glasgow, and M.P. for Paisley 
 Ritchie, 1808-1809; Pillans, R. 1810, 1811. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, of Abbotsford, Bart., the poet, historian, 
 and novelist. Fraser, 1779-1781 ; Adam, R. 1782. 
 
 Scott, Lieut.-Col. Sir Walter, of Abbotsford, Bart, (elder son 
 of the preceding.) Irvitie, 1809-1812 ; Pillans, R. 1813, 1814 
 
 Short, James, the optician and constructor of reflecting tele- 
 scopes. About 1712. 
 
 Sibbald, Sir Robert, Kt., M.D., President of the Royal Col- 
 lege of Physicians Wallace, R. 1652. 
 
 Sinclair, Sir John, of Ulbster, Bart., M.P. for Caithness, 
 author of many works, and editor of the " Statistical Account of 
 Scotland." Farquhar, 1761-1763. . 
 
 Sinclair, Sir Robert. Fraser, 1773-1776 ; Adam, 1777. 
 
 Smellie, William, author of the " Philosophy of Natural His- 
 tory." Lees, R. about 1753.
 
 212 HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. [APP. 
 
 Stewart, Dugald, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the Uni- 
 versity of Edinburgh. Farquhar, 1761-1764 ; Matheson, R. 
 1765, 1766. 
 
 Stirling, Sir James, Bart., Lord Provost of Edinburgh. 
 Lees, R. 1750, 1751. 
 
 Stirling, Sir Gilbert, of Mansfield, Bart. Christison, 1787. 
 
 Strathmore, John, 10th Earl of. Adam, R. 1781. 
 
 Stuart, Gilbert, LL.D., author of "View of Society in Europe." 
 Rae, 1751-1754. 
 
 Strahan, William, Printer and Publisher in London ; M.P. 
 for Wotton Basset, in Wiltshire. About 1725. 
 
 Suttie, Sir George Grant, of Balgone and Prestongrange. 
 Bart., sometime M.P. for Haddington. French, 1770. 
 
 Thomson, John, the first Professor of Music in the University 
 of Edinburgh. Pillans, R. 1819, 1820. 
 
 Threipland, Moncrief, Barrister at Bombay. Nicol, 1779- 
 1781 ; Adam, R. 1782. 
 
 Threipland, Sir Patrick Murray, of Fingask, Bart. French, 
 1771. 
 
 Trotter, William, Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Fraser, 1778- 
 1780; Adam, R. 1781. 
 
 Trotter, General Thomas. Matheson, R. 1764. 
 
 Tytler, Alexander, Lord Woodhouselee, author of " Elements 
 of General History," &c. Rae, 1755-1757 ; Matheson, R. 1758, 
 1759. 
 
 Tytler, William, of Woodhouselee, author of an " Inquiry, 
 historical and critical, into the Evidence against Mary, Queen of 
 Scots." Arbuthnot, R. about 1724. 
 
 Walker, Francis, afterwards Sir Francis Walker Drummond, 
 of Hawthornden, Bart. Cruickshank, 1788-1791 ; Adam, R. 
 1792. 
 
 Walker, Sir Patrick, of Coates. Cruickshank, 1784-1787 ; 
 Adam, R. 1788, 1789. 
 
 Walker, Josiah, Professor of Humanity in the University of 
 Glasgow, author of "The Defence of Order." Adam, R. 1774. 
 
 Warrender, Right Hon. -Sir George, of Lochend, Bart., M.P. 
 for Honiton. Nicol, 1791-1793. 
 
 Watson, John, Writer to H.M. Signet, and founder of an 
 educational Hospital in Edinburgh. Rae, 1739-1741.
 
 NO. XI.] HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. 213 
 
 Webster, Alexander, D.D. Edinburgh; Moderator of the Ge- 
 neral Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1753. Arbuthnct, 
 R. about 1719. 
 
 Wedderburn, 1 Alexander, afterwards Lord Chancellor of Eng- 
 land, under the title of Lord Loughborough. Anderson,, 1741- 
 1744 ; Lees, R. 1745. 
 
 Welsh, David, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History, 
 Edinburgh ; Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church 
 of Scotland in 1842. Carson, 1806, 1807. 
 
 Wight, Alexander, author of a "Treatise on the Laws of Elec- 
 tion," sometime Solicitor-General for Scotland. Adam, R. 1776. 
 
 Wilde, John, Professor of Civil Law in the University of 
 Edinburgh. Adam, R. 1766, 1767. 
 
 Williamson, David-Robertson-Ewart, Lord Balgray, one of 
 the Judges of the Court of Session. Fraser, 1768-1771 ; Adam> 
 R. 1772, 1773. 
 
 Wood, Sir Alexander, K.C.M.G., formerly Chief Secretary 
 at the Ionian Islands. Cruickshank, 1780-1783; Adam, R. 1784- 
 
 Of persons still living, who received their early classical edu- 
 cation at the High School of Edinburgh, we shall here subjoin 
 a short list, which, as well as the preceding, might have easily 
 been enlarged, had our limits permitted. 
 
 1 We have already spoken (See p. 69), of Wedderburn's connexion with 
 the High School, and of his having been a pupil of Barclay. When a younj; 
 man, the future Lord Chancellor of England wrote a critique, in the 
 " Edinburgh Review " for 1755, of his early preceptor's Greek Grammar. 
 " The study of the Greek tongue," says he, "which had long been ne- 
 glected, has of late begun to revive in this country. Glasgow first 
 showed the example ; and other places have not been slow to follow it. 
 The only grammar used for the teaching of Greek is the late Professor 
 Alexander Dunlop's ; the accuracy and conciseness of it are both very 
 remarkable ; but in teaching a language to children, a more plain and 
 familiar grammar was certainly wanting. Mr Barclay, to whose merit 
 as a schoolmaster we are glad to bear testimony, has thought it his 
 duty to supply this want. It is his practice to teach his pupils Greek 
 at a much earlier period than is usual in other places. The success of 
 this method sufficiently appears in the progress several of his pupils 
 have made, who frequently come from his school better Greek scholars 
 than many of those who have been three years at our University."
 
 214 HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. [APP. 
 
 It is impossible to state how many in the learned professions 
 of Law, Medicine, and Divinity, or as Officers in the Army and 
 Navy, and individuals holding high positions in society, both at 
 home and abroad, were educated at this seminary. As a speci- 
 men, we give the result of an investigation as to the number of 
 the present members of the College of Justice in Scotland : 
 
 1. Ten of the thirteen Judges; namely, Lords Justice-Clerk 
 Hope, Cockburn, Fullerton, Jeffrey, Mackenzie, Medwyn, Mon- 
 creiff, Murray, Robertson, Wood. 2. Three retired Judges ; 
 Lords President Hope, Meadowbank, Pitmilly. 3. Of the Fa- 
 culty of Advocates, whose number may be stated at 430, at 
 least ninety-eight, including two Principal Clerks of Session, and 
 sixteen Sheriffs-Depute of counties. 4. Of the Society to H.M. 
 Signet, 620 in number, one hundred and eighty, including one 
 Principal Clerk of Session. 
 
 Allan, Sir William, R.A. and P.R.S.A., her Majesty's Limner 
 for Scotland. 
 
 Allan, William, of Glen, formerly Lord Provost of Edinburgh. 
 
 Anderson, Adam, late Solicitor-General for Scotland. 
 
 Arbuthnot, Sir Robert-Keith, Bart., H.E.I.C. Civil Service, 
 Bombay. 
 
 Arnott, George- Arnott- Walker, LL.D., Professor of Botany 
 in the University of Glasgow. 
 
 Balfour, John-Hutton, M.D., Professor of Botany in the Uni- 
 versity of Edinburgh. 
 
 Bell, Sydney, an English Barrister, editor of Law Reports of 
 the House of Lords. 
 
 Black, Adam, late Lord Provost of Edinburgh. 
 
 Blair, William, of Avontown, Judge in the Ionian Islands, 
 author of " Slavery among the Romans." 
 
 Bonar, Archibald, Manager of the Edinburgh and Glasgow 
 Bank. 
 
 Brougham and Vaux, Baron, formerly Lord Chancellor of 
 England. See ATP. p. 132. 
 
 Brougham, William, one of the Masters in Chancery. 
 
 Brunton, Alexander, D.D., Edinburgh, Moderator of the Ge- 
 neral Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1823 ; late Professor 
 of Oriental Languages in the University of Edinburgh.
 
 NO. XI.] HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. 215 
 
 Burn, William, Architect, London. 
 
 Burnet, John, Engraver, London. 
 
 Caithness, the Earl of 
 
 Camperdovm, the Earl of 
 
 Campbell, Sir James, of Aberuchill and Kilbride, Bart. 
 
 Cheape, Douglas, Advocate, late Professor of Civil Law in the 
 University of Edinburgh. 
 
 Christison, Robert, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica in the 
 University of Edinburgh. 
 
 Christopher, Robert-Adam, M.P. for Lincolnshire, formerly 
 M.P. for Edinburgh. 
 
 Clerk, Sir George, of Penicuik, Bart. See APP. p. 135. 
 
 Cockburn, Henry, Lord Cockburn, one of the Judges of the 
 Court of Session in Scotland. 
 
 Colquhoun, John-Campbell, of Killermont, late M.P. for New- 
 castle-under-Lyne. 
 
 Combe, George, Writer to H.M. Signet, author of a " System 
 of Phrenology." 
 
 Corrie, Thomas, Manager of the British Linen Company's Bank. 
 
 Cowan, Charles, M.P. for Edinburgh. 
 
 Craig, Sir James-Gibson, of Riccarton, Bart., Senior Mem- 
 ber of the Society of Writers to H.M. Signet. 
 
 Craig, William-Gibson, younger of Riccarton, one of the 
 Lords of the Treasury, and M.P. for Edinburgh. 
 
 Crichton, Sir Archibald- William, formerly Physician to the 
 Emperor of Russia. 
 
 Douglas, James, of Cavers, author of " The Advancement of 
 Society in Knowledge and Religion," &c. 
 
 Drummond, Henry-Home, of Blair-Drummonfl, M.P. for 
 Perthshire. 
 
 Duncan, Lieut.-General Alexander, of Gattonside. 
 
 Dundas, Sir David, M.P. for Sutherlandshire, late Solicitor- 
 General of England. 
 
 Dundas, Sir David, of Beechwood and Dunira, Bart. 
 
 Dundas, Robert-Adam. See Christopher. 
 
 Dundas, William-Pitt, Deputy Clerk-Register for Scotland. 
 
 Dunfermline, Lord, late Speaker of the House of Commons. 
 
 Elcho, Francis, Lord, eldest son of the Earl of Wemyss and 
 March.
 
 216 HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. [APP. 
 
 Elphinstone, the Hon. Mountstuart, formerly Governor of 
 Bombay, and author of the " History of India." 
 
 Elphinstone, Sir Howard, of Sowerby, Bart., D.C.L., late 
 M.P. for Hastings. 
 
 Erskine, Thomas, Advocate, author of " Essay on Faith," &c. 
 
 Erskine, William, translator of the " Memoirs of the Emperor 
 Baber." 
 
 Fairfax, Colonel Sir Henry, of Holmes, Bart. 
 
 Ferguson, Sir Adam, Deputy-Keeper of the Regalia of Scot- 
 land. 
 
 Forbes, John-Hay, Lord Medwyn, one of the Judges of the 
 Court of Session. 
 
 Forbes, William, of Callendar, M.P. for Stirlingshire. 
 
 Fullerton, John, Lord Fullerton, one of the Judges of the 
 Court of Session. 
 
 Forrest, Sir James, of Comiston, Bart., formerly Lord Provost 
 of Edinburgh. 
 
 Fyfe, Andrew, M.D., Professor of Chemistry, King's College, 
 Aberdeen. 
 
 Gordon, Lewis D. B., Professor of Civil Engineering and Me- 
 chanics, University of Glasgow. 
 
 Grant, Robert E., Professor of Comparative Anatomy and 
 Zoology, University College, London. 
 
 Grantley, the Earl of 
 
 Greiff, Sir Hector, formerly Chief Secretary at Malta. 
 
 Gunn, William-Maxwell. See APP. pp. 113, 138. 
 
 Hamilton, Thomas, R.S.A., Architect, Edinburgh. 
 
 Hay, Major-General Lord James. 
 
 Hay, Lord John, Capt. R . N. , one of the Lords of the Admiralty. 
 
 Hay, Sir John, of Park, Bart. 
 
 Henderson, William, M.D., Professor of Pathology in the 
 University of Edinburgh. 
 
 Hope, Right Hon. Charles, late Lord President of the Court of 
 Session. See APP. p. 130. 
 
 Hope, Right Hon. John, Lord Justice-Clerk of Scotland. 
 
 Horner, Leonard, late President of the Geological Society. 
 
 Huie, Richard, M.D., Edinburgh, author of "Sacred Ly- 
 rics," &c. 
 
 Huntly, the Marquess of.
 
 NO. XI.] HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. 217 
 
 Innes, Cosmo, Advocate, Professor of Civil History in the 
 University of Edinburgh. 
 
 Jackson, Thomas-Thomson, Professor of Biblical Criticism, 
 St Mary's College, St Andrews. 
 
 Jamieson, Robert, D.D. Glasgow, author of an " Account of 
 Eastern Manners, illustrative of the Old and New Testament 
 Histories, &c." 
 
 Jardine, Sir Henry, of Harwood, Kt., late Queen's Remem- 
 brancer for Scotland. 
 
 Jeffrey, Francis, Lord Jeffrey, one of the Judges of the Court 
 of Session. 
 
 Johnston, Alexander-Keith, F.R.G.S., Geographer in Ordi- 
 nary to her Majesty, author of " The National," and editor of 
 " The Physical Atlas." 
 
 Johnston, Right Hon. William, of Kirkhill, Lord Provost of 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Kilpatrick, John, formerly a Judge in the Ionian Islands. 
 
 Kinloch, Sir David, of Gilmerton, Bart. 
 
 Lauderdale, the Earl of, Lord-Lieutenant of Berwickshire. 
 
 Learmonth, John, of Dean, formerly Lord Provost of Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 Macdougall, Patrick C., Professor of Moral Philosophy, New 
 College, Edinburgh. See APP. p. 138. 
 
 Maconochie, Alexander, of Meadowbank, late one of the Judges 
 of the Court of Session. 
 
 Maconochie, Allan, Professor of Law, University of Glasgow. 
 
 M'Crie, Thomas, D.D., Edinburgh; Professor of Divinity to 
 the United Original Seceders in Scotland. 
 
 M'Farlan, David, H.E.I.C.S., formerly Chief Magistrate of 
 Calcutta. 
 
 Mackenzie, Joshua-Henry, Lord Mackenzie, one of the Judges 
 of the Court of Session. 
 
 Mackenzie, William-Forbes, of Portmore, M.P. for Peebles- 
 shire. 
 
 Maclagan, David, M.D., Surgeon to the Queen for Scotland. 
 
 Macrobin, John, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Marischal Col- 
 lege, Aberdeen. 
 
 Maitland, Thomas, of Dundrennan, M.P. for the Stewartry of 
 Kirkcudbright ; Solicitor-General for Scotland.
 
 218 HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. [APP. 
 
 Matheson, James, M.P. for Ross and Cromarty. 
 
 Matheson, Thomas, M.P. for Ashburton. 
 Melville, Viscount, Keeper of the Privy Seal in Scotland, and 
 formerly First Lord of the Admiralty. 
 
 Menzies, Allan, Professor of Conveyancing in the University 
 of Edinburgh. 
 
 Menzies, William, Advocate, Judge at the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 Milne, David, of Milnegraden, Advocate, and author of " Es- 
 say on Comets," &c. 
 
 Mitchell, Graham, LL.D., author of "The Young Man's 
 Guide against Infidelity." 
 
 Moncreiff,Sir James, of Tulliebole, Bart.' Lord Moncreiff, one 
 of the Judges of the Court of Session. 
 
 Monypenny, David, of Pitmilly, late one of the Judges of the 
 Court of Session. 
 
 Murray, Sir John- Archibald, Lord Murray, one of the Judges 
 of the Court of Session. 
 
 Murray, William, of Henderland. See p. 136. 
 
 Napier, Sir Charles, Rear- Admiral of the White, &c. 
 
 Napier, Mark, Advocate, author of " Memoir of John Na- 
 pier of Merchiston," &c. 
 
 Panmure, William-Maule, Lord Panmure. 
 
 Paul, John, D.D., St Cuthberts, Edinburgh ; Moderator of the 
 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1847. 
 
 Paul, Robert, Manager of the Commercial Bank of Scotland. 
 
 Peddle, Lieut.-Col. John-Crofton, Royal North British Fu- 
 siliers. 
 
 Pillans, James, Professor of Humanity in the University of 
 Edinburgh. See APP. p. 65. 
 
 Pitcairn, Robert, editor of " Criminal Trials of Scotland," &c. 
 
 Pringle, Sir John, of Stitchel, Bart. 
 
 Pringle, Norman, British Consul at Stockholm. 
 
 Ramsay, William, Professor of Humanity in the University of 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Ramsay, William-Ramsay, of Barnton, late M.P. for Edin- 
 burgh-shire. 
 
 Reddie, James, Advocate, Legal Assessor to the City of Glas- 
 gow, and author of " An Historical View of the Law of Maritime 
 Commerce."
 
 NO. XI.] HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. 219 
 
 Reid, David-Boswell, M.D., author of "Elements of Che- 
 mistry." 
 
 Richards. Alfred-Bate, author of " Cromwell," a tragedy, &c. 
 Riddell, Sir James Miles, of Ardnamurchan, Bart. 
 Robertson, Patrick, Lord Robertson, one of the Judges of the 
 Court of Session. 
 
 Rollo, William, 9th Baron, of Duncrub. 
 Romanes, George, Professor of Classical Literature, Queen's 
 College, Canada. 
 
 Rutherfurd, Andrew, of Lauriston, M.P. for Leith, &c., Lord 
 Advocate for Scotland. See APP. p. 135. 
 
 Skene, George, late Professor of Civil History in the Univer- 
 sity of Edinburgh. 
 
 Smollett, Alexander, of Bonhill, M.P. for Dumbartonshire. 
 Steuart, Sir Henry- James- Seton, of AUanton, Bart. 
 Stevenson, Alan y LL.B., author of the "Account of the Sker- 
 ryvore Lighthouse, with Notes on the Illumination of Light- 
 houses." 
 
 Stuart, John, Q. C., M.P. for Newark. 
 Syme, Jaines, M.D., Professor of Surgery in the University of 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Tait, Archibald-Campbell, D.D., Head Master of Rugby 
 School. 
 
 T/ireipland, Sir Patrick -Murray-Budge, of Fingask, Bart. 
 Tweeddale, the Marquess of, late Governor of Madras. 
 Tweedie, Alexander, M.D., of the University of London. 
 Tytler, Patrick- Fraser, author of the " History of Scotland." 
 Watson, C/iarlcs, D.D., late of Burntisland, author of " Family 
 Prayers." 
 
 Williamson, James, Professor of Mathematics, &c., Queen's 
 College, Canada. 
 
 Wilson, Daniel, author of " Memorials of Edinburgh in the 
 Olden Time," &c. 
 
 Wood, Alexander, Lord Wood, one of the Judges of the Court 
 of Session. 
 
 Yule, Lieut.-Col. Patrick, Royal Engineers. 
 
 Note. The above may be regarded as the first attempt to furnish 
 the public with a General Catalogue of High School men. It is but a 
 specimen, and we are fully aware that it is defective and incomplete ;
 
 220 HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS. 
 
 arising partly from the unsatisfactory mode in which the Register was 
 formerly kept, and partly, as we have stated, from want of space. In a 
 future edition the list will be considerably enlarged ; and authentic in- 
 formation on the subject, if forwarded to our publishers, will be peculiarly 
 acceptable. 
 
 There are several clubs that hold annual meetings in honour of par- 
 ticular teachers : of some of these clubs there are interesting printed 
 lists, of recent date, carefully prepared, in which the personal history of 
 each member of the class is briefly traced. 
 
 Dr Schmitz, who, since his appointment to the Rectorship, has an- 
 nually rendered a Report, which has been printed and circulated at 
 the public examination, thus refers, in his Report for 1848J to the forma- 
 tion of a High School Club : 
 
 " It will probably be gratifying to the friends and patrons of our ve- 
 nerable institution to learn, that a High School Club is in the progress 
 of formation. It is to consist of gentlemen who have received their 
 education at the High School, and who are anxious to cherish and culti- 
 vate a friendly feeling among themselves and towards the School in which 
 they have spent the happy years of boyhood, and in which the founda- 
 tions were laid for their subsequent success in life. It is contemplated 
 by those gentlemen who have taken the lead in this matter, to found 
 scholarships or bursaries at our national Colleges, for the purpose of 
 rewarding and encouraging such pupils as may distinguish themselves 
 at the High School by their talent and industry. 
 
 " This, and other signs of the favour which the public continue to 
 bestow upon our Metropolitan High School, and the lively interest 
 which many of the illustrious men nurtured within its walls still take in 
 its prosperity, is the highest reward of those who are still labouring in 
 it for the good of the rising generation." 
 
 It affords us great pleasure to mention, that a preliminary meeting 
 has been held with a view to the immediate formation of the High School 
 Club. The association is to be composed of all those who remain warmly 
 attached to the seminary in which they received their early training. 
 As the learned Rector has indicated, the object of the proposed club is, 
 by the united efforts of its members, to advance, in every legitimate 
 way, the prosperity of the High School of Edinburgh. We are con- 
 vinced that old pupils in Britain, as well as hi distant lands, will feel 
 honoured in patronising a cause so exceedingly praiseworthy. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 MURRAY AND tilBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
 
 ~iJ .
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 Biomedica! u. 
 
 LCC! 
 
 2 VvtcK 
 
 APR 2 6 1994 
 
 <y 
 
 'onn L9-50m-9 1 > 60(B3610s4)444
 
 R N I REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 000 977 998 4