William Lithgow (1582—? 1650)

Scottish traveller and writer, was born and educated in Lanark. He was caught in a love-adventure, mutilated of his ears by the brothers of the lady (hence the sobriquet “Cut-lugged Willie“, and forced to leave Scotland.

For nineteen years he travelled, mostly on foot, through Europe, the Levant, Egypt and northern Africa, covering, according to his estimate, over 36,000 miles. The story of his adventures may be drawn from The Discourse of the Rare Adventzues and painfull Peregrinations of long nineteene Veares (London, 1614; fuller edition, 1632, &c.); A True and Experimentail Discourse upon the last siege of Breda (London, 1637); and a similar book giving an account of the siege of Newcastle and the battle of Marston Moor (Edinburgh, 1645). He is the author of a Present Surveigh of London (London, 1643).

He left six poems, written between 1618 and 1640 (reprinted by Maidment, Edinburgh, 1863). Of these ” Scotland’s Welcome to King Charles, 1633 “ has considerable antiquarian interest. His writing has no literary merit; but its excessively aureate style deserves notice.