The actual date of his birth is uncertain, but he states (page 377) that he was thirty-three in 1615, and in The Present Surveigh of London 'past threescore years' in April, 1643. He was the eldest son of James Lithgow, Burgess of Lanark, and Alison Grahame, his wife. He was educated at Lanark Grammar School, and, according to Sir Walter Scott, was 'bred a tailor.' Scott does not, however, give his authority for this statement.Lithgow seems to have started his travels at a very early age, having 'a large infusion of the wandering spirit common to his country-men.' He says himself that 'neither ambition, too much curiosity, nor any reputation I ever sought did expose me to such long peregrinations and dangerous adventures past' - but 'that undeserved Dalida wrong.' What this mysterious 'Dalida wrong' was is unknown, but family tradition has it that the four brothers, 'foure blood-shedding wolves, ' of a certain Miss Lockhart, finding their sister with Lithgow, set upon him and cut off his ears, and from this arose his local nickname of '"Cutlugged" or Lugless" Will.'About the Publisher: Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com. This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.