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WILLIAM DRUMMOND.

BORN 1585- DIED 1649.

"The Cypress Grove;" a prose rhapsody on the vanity of human life, which has been pronounced equal to the splendid passages of Jeremy Taylor on this sublimest of all earthly topics. If tradition may be credited, it was composed in one of the caves in the lofty cliff on which the House of Hawthornden stands, and which is to this day called "The Cypress Grove." About this time, and while in the same frame of mind, he wrote what he called "Flowers of Zion; or Spiritual Poems." The publication of these volumes brought Drummond great fame, and led to a familiar correspondence with several of the literary mag

From the Drummonds of Carnock, afterwards Dukes of Perth, were descended the Drummonds of Hawthornden, a branch rendered as famous by the poet, as the other has been by statesmen and warriors. William Drummond, son of Sir John Drummond, was born at Hawthornden, December 13, 1585. He was educated at the recently founded University of Edinburgh, and being designed by his father for the legal profession, was in the year 1606 sent, in accordance with the custom of that day, to France to prosecute the study of the law. He appears to have been a most diligent student, studying with great assiduity, taking notes of the lectures which he attended,nates of his day, among whom may be mentioned and writing observations of his own upon them. That he was well fitted for this profession is not left to conjecture. The learned President Lockhart, on being shown these manuscripts, declared that if Drummond had followed the law he might have made the best figure of any lawyer of his time." In 1610 his father, Sir John, died, and he returned to Scotland to take possession of an independent inheritance, as Laird of Hawthornden, at the same time deciding to look for happiness in rural life and literary pursuits.

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Ben Jonson, Michael Drayton, Dr. Arthur Johnston the Latin poet, and the Earls of Ancrum and Stirling. Drayton in an elegy on the English poets takes occasion to speak of Drummond with much distinction.

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The most remarkable incident connected with the literary life of the Laird of Hawthornden, was the visit which the great dramatist "Rare Ben Jonson" paid to him in the spring of 1619. The Scottish poet kept notes of the opinions expressed by his distinguished guest, and chronicled some of his personal failings. A more lovely spot for a poet's retreat we Jonson alludes to all the contemporary poets never saw in or out of Scotland. Classic and dramatists; but the most singular of all Hawthornden," Sir Walter called it. Within is his reference to Shakspere, of whom he a small space are combined all the elements of speaks with as little reverence as of any of the sublime and picturesque scenery, and in the others. He said, Shakspere wanted art, immediate neighbourhood is Roslyn Castle, and sometimes sense; for in one of his plays one of the most interesting of Gothic ruins. he brought a number of men, saying they had In this charming retreat Drummond gave suffered shipwreck in Bohemia, where is no himself up to the study of the poets of Greece sea near by an hundred miles." In describing and Rome, of modern Italy and France; and Jonson Drummond says, "He was a great to the formation upon them of an English lover and praiser of himself, a contemner and style of his own. His earliest publication of scorner of others, given rather to lose a friend which we have any knowledge, is a volume of than a jest; jealous of every word and action poems of the date of 1616, when he was in his of those about him, especially after drink, thirty-first year. This volume, however, is which is one of the elements in which he lived; stated in the title to be the second edition. a dissembler of the parts which reign in him; His next work was produced after his recovery a bragger of some good that he wanted: thinkfrom a dangerous illness, and was entitled ing nothing well done, but what either he

himself or some of his friends have said or It was about the time of the English poet's done. He is passionately kind or angry, care- | visit that Drummond formed an attachment less either to gain or keep; vindictive, but if | for a young lady, daughter to Cunninghame he be well answered at himself, interprets best sayings and deeds often to the worst. He was for any religion, as being versed in both; oppressed with fancy, which hath overmastered his reason, a general disease in many poets." "In short," concludes Drummond, "he was in his personal character the very reverse of Shakspere, as surly, ill-natured, proud, and disagreeable, as Shakspere, with ten times his merit, was gentle, good-natured, easy, and amiable."

of Barnes, an ancient and honourable house. His affection was reciprocated, the marriage day was appointed, and preparations going forward for its solemnization, when she was taken ill with a fever of which she soon after died. His deep grief on this sad event he has expressed in many of those sonnets which have given him the title of the Scottish Petrarch; and it has been well said that he celebrated his dead mistress with more passion and sincerity than others use to praise their living ones. Finding his home, after this event, irksome to him, he sought consolation on the Continent, where he resided for eight years, spending his time chiefly in Paris and Rome. During his travels he collected a large library of the best ancient Greek and Latin authors, and the works of the most esteemed modern writers of France, Italy, and Spain. He afterwards presented the collection to the College of Edinburgh. The catalogue accompanying the gift, about 500 volumes, printed in the year 1627, is furnished with a Latin preface, from Drummond's pen, upon "the advantage and honour of libraries."

It should be said to Ben's honour, that when he spared not the absent, neither did he overlook him who was present. Hawthornden's verses, he allowed, "were all good, especially his epitaph on Prince Henry; save that they smelled too much of the schools, and were not after the fancy of the times; for a child," said he, "may write after the fashion of the Greek and Latin verses, in running;-yet, that he wished for pleasing the king, that piece of 'Forth Feasting' had been his own." Our poet has been most unjustly attacked for his remarks about Jonson, which was simply a rough memorandum for his own use, never intended for publication. Though it treats with unparalleled severity the character and foibles of the English dramatist, there is every proof that he has not done him any injustice. It is not kindly, nor can it be said to be hostilely written. There is scarcely any writer that had any personal acquaintance with Jonson who does not confirm Drummond's sketch. Howell, in one of his letters, has a passage which may suffice to acquit our poet of any singularity in his opinions. "I was invited yesterday," he says, "to a solemn supper by B. J. There was good company, excellent cheer, choice wines, and jovial welcome. One thing intervened, which almost spoiled the relish of the rest, that B. began to engross all the discourse, to vapour extremely of himself, and by vilifying others to magnify his own name. T. Ca. buzzed me in the ear, that though Ben had barrelled up a great deal of knowledge, yet it seems he had not read the ethics, which, amongst other precepts of morality, forbid self-commendation, declaring it to be an ill-favoured solecism in good manners." | pletion of his sixty-fourth year.

On his return to his native land, which Drummond found already breaking out into those political troubles which so unhappily closed the career of Charles I., he retired to the residence of his brother-in-law, Sir John Scot, where he wrote his History of the Five Jameses, Kings of Scotland. For purity of style and elegance of expression it is not surpassed by any Scottish work of his day. It was not published until after Drummond's death. In the year 1630 he married Elizabeth Logan, daughter to Sir Robert Logan, in whom he either found, or fancied he had found, a resemblance to his first love. his marriage he had several children, the eldest of whom, a son, was knighted by Charles II. We know little of the private life of the poet after this period, but that he lived a retired life at his beautiful house of Hawthornden, which he repaired, as we learn from an inscription bearing date 1638 still to be seen upon the building. Drummond died December 4, 1649, wanting only nine days to the comHis body

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