Note 55 — Chapter V · James Watt—Lineage and Birthplace—Boyhood and Apprenticeship.

The truth in regard to young Watt’s first years in the public school is, that, owing doubtless to infirm health, to the suffering and depression which affected his whole powers, he was prevented for a considerable time displaying even a very ordinary and moderate aptitude for the common routine of school lessons; and during those years he was regarded by his schoolmasters as slow and inapt. Although to some minds facts of such a nature may be conceived to mar the romance of a great man’s history, yet, seeing they rest on authenticity which cannot be impugned, there appears no reasonable ground on which it may be thought that they ought to be passed over as if they had not existed, or were altogether unfounded.—Williamson’s ‘Memorials of Watt,’ p. 130.