18 
MEMOIR OF 
is a sepulchral monument in the Greyfriars’ 
Churchyard of Edinburgh, commonly denomi- 
nated the Martyrs’ Tomb, which was erected 
after the Revolution by the Cameronians, to the 
memory of those of their brethren who fell in 
the battles of Pentland and Bothwell-bridge, 
which is supposed to have been originally built 
by Mr Alexander Smellie, Or his father, Mr 
William Smellie, who was also a builder ; and 
there Mr Alexander Smellie and several of the 
elder branches of the family are interred. 
William received the first rudiments of his 
education at a school in the village of Dudding- 
stone, about a mile from his paternal residence, 
which was followed by a regular course of 
classical study at a grammar school, from 
whence he was taken, in 1752, at twelve years 
of age, and apprenticed on the 1st of October, 
1752, to Messrs Hamilton, Balfour, and Neil, 
printers in Edinburgh, for six years and a half ; 
during which time he conducted himself with 
most exemplary diligence, and gave indication 
of superior intelligence ; so that, two years 
before the expiration of his apprenticeship, his 
masters appointed him to the important em- 
ployment of corrector of their press, with a 
weekly allowance of ten shillings. They also 
kindly permitted him to attend some of the 
classes of the University, an indulgence he 
appears to have turned to very good account. 
In the year 1757, the Edinburgh Philosophical 
Society offered a prize for the most accurate 
