CHAPTEE I. 



INTKODUCTORY. 



The Goodsirs of Fife and Anstruther — Three generations of " Doctor 

 Johns " — The birth, schooling, and St. Andrews education of John 

 the Professor. 



The city of Edinburgh is built on lofty heights, accli- 

 vities, and intervening valleys ; it is situated in the 

 midst of sea and land prospects of great diversity 

 and beauty ; and naturally and aesthetically it shows 

 the most picturesque metropolis in Europe. Its Old 

 and New Towns form an architectural counterpoise; 

 the Old, with its many-storeyed dwellings, narrow 

 alleys, quaint turrets, its ancient Castle on precipitous 

 rock, its royal Palace on meadowed plain — partaking 

 more or less of the semi mediaeval, the transitional and 

 thf grotesque in art — stands in strong contrast to the 

 uniform streets, the pleasure-gardens, the palatial edi- 

 fices, and noble monumental structures of the New, or 

 modern city. Claiming the rapturous admiration of 

 foreigners, and no small share of national homage, 

 IMinburgh, as a city of historic note, has ever been 

 the pride and joy of its educated, enlightened, and 

 betic citizens. The man of 1 ravel, surveying the truly 

 grand panoramic view from the Caltou Hill, will best 



B 



