In these days when there is so little Latin taught (and hardly any Greek) it is quite difficult to imagine what 'classical' schools were like. They began in medieval times when Latin was the shared language of European scholars. For Edinburgh there are records of courses of study from the sixteenth century onwards showing books by Roman authors which High School boys -- and later their counterparts in private schools -- studied at different stages. Grammar and syntax, the necessary 'rudiments' of literary studies, were traditionally learned by rote. Physical punishment often accompanied this, and historian William Ross widened the context of a twelve-hour High School day: 'This is as barbarous as anything that the Industrial Revolution produced. It is little wonder that the same inhuman method of flogging the tired horse was employed in both cases.'

But the largely Edinburgh-based Scottish Enlightenment owed a good deal to classical education. After years of what D'Arcy Thomson condemned as 'gerund-grinding'. all came to fruition in the Rector's class. This can be demonstrated through the career of one Rector, Alexander Adam, who spent a remarkable forty-four years with the High School's top classes until his death in 1809. Walter Scott had been one of Adam's pupils: 'It was the fashion to remain two years in his class. I had by this time mastered, in some degree, the difficulties of the language and began to be sensible of its beauties, nor shall I forget the swelling of my little pride when the Rector pronounced that, though many of my school-fellows understood the Latin better, Gualterus Scott was behind few in following and enjoying the author's meaning. Thus encouraged, I distinguished myself by some attempts at poetical versions from Horace and Virgil... It was from this respectable man that I first learned the value of the knowledge that I had hitherto considered only as a burdensome task.'