Editing Robert Adam (section)

===Early life===
[[Image:High School, Blackfriars 1578.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Royal High School (1578–1777) on site of Blackfriars Monastery, Edinburgh.]]
Adam was born on 3 July 1728 at Gladney House in [[Kirkcaldy]], Fife, the second son of Mary Robertson (1699–1761), the daughter of William Robertson of Gladney, and architect William Adam.<ref name="celebration" /><ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/105|title=Adam, Robert (1728–1792), architect|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/105}}</ref> As a child he was noted as having a "feeble constitution".<ref>Fleming, p. 76</ref> From 1734 at the age of six Adam attended the [[Royal High School, Edinburgh]]<ref>Graham, p. 2</ref> where he learned [[Latin]] (from the second year lessons were conducted in Latin)<ref name="Graham, p. 4">Graham, p. 4</ref> until he was 15, he was taught to read works by [[Virgil]], [[Horace]], [[Sallust]] and parts of [[Cicero]] and in his final year [[Livy]].<ref name="Graham, p. 4"/> 

In autumn 1743, he matriculated at the [[University of Edinburgh]],<ref name="Graham, p. 26">Graham, p. 26</ref> and compulsory classes for all students were: the [[Greek language]], [[logic]], [[metaphysics]] and [[natural philosophy]].<ref name="Graham, p. 26"/> Students could choose three elective subjects, Adam attended classes in mathematics, taught by [[Colin Maclaurin]], and anatomy, taught by [[Alexander Monro (primus)|Alexander Monro ''primus'']].<ref>Graham, p. 27</ref> His studies were interrupted by the arrival of [[Bonnie Prince Charlie]] and his Highlanders, who occupied Edinburgh during the [[Jacobite rising of 1745]]. At the end of the year, Robert fell seriously ill for some months, and it seems unlikely that he returned to university, having completed only two years of study.<ref>Fleming, pp. 79–80</ref>

On his recovery from illness in 1746, he joined his elder brother John as apprentice to his father. He assisted William Adam on projects such as the building of [[Inveraray Castle]] and the continuing extensions of [[Hopetoun House]]. William's position as Master Mason to the [[Board of Ordnance]] also began to generate much work, as the Highlands were fortified following the failed Jacobite revolt. Robert's early ambition was to be an artist rather than architect, and the style of his early sketches in the manner of [[Salvator Rosa]] are reflected in his earliest surviving architectural drawings, which show picturesque [[gothic architecture|gothic]] [[Folly|follies]].<ref name="Fleming81">Fleming, p. 81</ref> William Adam died in June 1748, and left Dowhill, a part of the Blair Adam estate which included [[Dowhill Castle]], to Robert. From his father, Robert inherited an extensive library and extended it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Adam 1728–1792 – Book Owners Online |url=https://www.bookowners.online/Robert_Adam_1728%E2%80%931792 |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=www.bookowners.online}}</ref>