CHAPTEK I 



BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY STUDIES OF MICHAEL SCOT 



IN the Borders of Scotland it is well known that 

 any piece of hill pasture, if it be fenced in but for a 

 little from the constant cropping of the sheep, will 

 soon show springing shoots of forest trees indi- 

 genous to the soil, whose roots remain wherever 

 the plough has not passed too deeply. Centuries 

 ago, when nature had her way and was unrestrained, 

 the whole south-eastern part of the country was 

 covered with dense forests and filled with forest- 

 dwellers ; the wild creatures that form the prey of 

 the snare and the quarry of the chase. In the deep 

 valleys, and by the streams of Tweed and Teviot, 

 and many another river of that well- watered land, 

 stood the great ranks and masses of the oak and 

 beech as captains and patriarchs of the forest, 

 mingled with the humbler whitethorn which made a 

 dense undergrowth wherever the sun could reach. 

 On the heights grew the sombre firs ; their gnarled 

 and ruddy branches crowned with masses of bluish- 

 green foliage, while the alders followed the water- 

 courses, and, aided by the shelter of these secret 

 valleys, all but reached the last summits of the hills, 

 which alone, in many a varied slope and peak and 

 swelling breast, rose eminent and commanding over 

 these dark and almost unbroken woodlands. 



