Oure tounis colledge Author:John Harrison Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 50 CHAPTER III. THE COLLEGE AS OPENED, AND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. The Council adopted, in dealing with the Town's x ? y ' College, its j... more »isualcojiise?intrusted the manage- / ment of affairs to certain members who took special interest in it, and left them considerable 1fl.fjt.ndft in t.TiP Pyptp.isp f t.Vipir diHcrptmn It was no easy work, however; for the town was very poor, it having suffered much in the civil wars, and been compelled to provide heavy sums to meet the royal expenditure; and while the funds at the disposal of the Council were very narrow, its ideas regarding education partook of the magnificent proportions laid down in the Presbyterian text-book?the ' Book of Discipline.' Those who managed the affairs of the College were, however, among the shrewdest men of business in the city, and had besides been trained in economy. The chief share of the duties fell to William Littill, who had sat for several years in the Council, and who, along with his brother Clement and the Eev. James Lawson, the minister of the High Kirk, had been the most ardent promoters of the foundation of the College. Clement Littill had died in 1580, leaving his books " to his native town of Edinburgh and to the Kirk of God therein"; while Lawson was outlawed for his support of the faction who had carried off King James in the " Eaid of Euthven," and died in exile at London in 1584. Of William Littill we have spoken before. He was one of the wealthiest of the citizens of Edinburgh, and was accustomed to entertain King James and his Court in his house in Brodie's Close, which remained in the possession of his descendants, the Little Gilmours of Craigmillar, until it was pulled down half a century ago.1 The first work of the Council, after seeing its way 1 Wilso...« less