4 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



touched the heights and fathomed the depths of 

 human life itself. Our life is a bird, said one in 

 these early ages, which flies by night, and, entering 

 lighted hall at one end, swiftly passeth out at the 

 other. So come we, who knoweth whence, and so pass 

 we, who knoweth whither? From the darkness we 

 come and to the darkness we go, and the brief light 

 that is meanwhile ours cannot make the mystery 

 plain. 



But though the nature of this primitive life in 

 early Scottish days could not hinder the appearance 

 of men of thought, and even helped their develop- 

 ment as soon as they began to show the movements 

 of active intellect, yet on the other hand Scotland 

 had not reached that culture which affords such 

 natures their due and full opportunity. Centuries 

 were yet to pass before the foundation of St. 

 Andrews as the first Scottish university. The 

 grammar-schools of the country 1 were but a step to 

 the studies of some foreign seat of learning. The 

 churchmen who filled considerable positions at 

 home were either Italians, or had at least been 

 trained abroad, so that everything in those days 

 pointed to that path of foreign study which has 

 since been trodden by so many generations of 

 Scottish students. The bright example of Scotus 

 Erigena, who had reached such a high place in 

 France under Charles the Bald, was an incitement 

 to the northern world of letters. Young men of 

 parts and promise naturally sought their oppor- 

 tunity to go abroad in the hope of finding like 



1 Some account of Scottish grammar-schools in the twelfth century 

 will be found in Sir James Dalrymple's Collections, pp. 226, 255 

 (Advocates' Library, Edinburgh) ; also in Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. i. 

 p. 76. 



