BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY STUDIES 1 1 



It is unfortunate that we find ourselves in the 

 same position with regard to the interesting ques- 

 tion of Scot's early education, having only the 

 suggestions derived from probable conjecture to 

 offer on this subject also. Du Boulay indeed, in 

 his account of the University of Paris, ^ pretends 

 to supply a pretty complete account of the schools 

 which Scot attended, but, as he adds that this 

 was the usual course of study in those days, we 

 find reason to think that he may have been guided 

 in his assertions, rather by the probabilities of the 

 case, than by any exact evidence. Nor is it likely 

 that any more satisfactory assurance can now be 

 had on this point : the time being too remote and 

 the want of early material for Scot's biography 

 defeating in this respect all the care and attention 

 that can now be given to the subject. 



We know, however, that there was a somewhat 

 famous grammar-school at Roxburgh in the twelfth 

 century,'"^ and considering the rarity of such an 

 opportunity at so early a period, and the proximity 

 of this place to the district in which Scot was born, 

 we may venture to fancy that here he may have 

 learned his rudiments, thus laying the foundation of 

 those deeper studies, which he afterwards carried 

 to such a heiofht. 



With regard to Durham, the matter may be con- 

 sidered to stand on firmer ground. The name of 

 Michael Scot, as we have already seen, has for many 

 ages been associated with this ancient Cathedral 



^ Bulaeus Historia Univ. Paris., vol. iii. pp. 701, 702. 



2 Sir James Dalrymple's Collections, pp. 226, 255^/There was also a 

 school at Dryburgh, where Sibbald says Sacrobosco studied, but had 

 Scot entered here he would hardly have been distinguished in later 

 years as a man in close relation with another order — the Cistercian. 



