2Zb3 M53 mM lA'l. (Jlarnell Uniusratty ^library atttaca, S!tm ^atb BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 Cornell University Library PR 2263.M53 Memorial to William Drumond, of Hawthord 3 1924 013 120 799 HS3 MEMORIAL TO WILLIAM DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN. The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013120799 MEMORIAL TO WILLIAM DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN EDINBURGH: PRIVATELY PRINTED MDCCCXCIV. \« A4'o2-|l^ COMM ITTEE Formed to promote the Erection of the Memorial. Chairman. The Right Hon. Viscount Melville, Melville Castle, Lasswade, Midlothian. Vice-Chairman. Professor Masson, Edinburgh. Members. The Most Hon. The Marquess of Lothian, K.T. The Right Hon. Viscoi'Nt Strathallan. The Right Hon. The Lord Justice General. Sir James Drummond, Bart, of Hawthornden. Robert Dundas, Esq. of Arniston. Genera! Drummond, Hawthornden. Rev. J. A. BuRDON, Lasswade. T. Graves Law, Esq. , Signet Library, Edin- burgh. Professor Veitch, Glasgow. Christopher Aitchison, Esq., Elmswood, Loanhead. John Skelton, Esq., C.B., Hermitage of Braid. G. L. Craik, Esq., London. George Seton, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. J. Dalrymple Duncan, Esq., F.S.A. Lond. & Scot,, Glasgow. J. R. Findlav, Esq. of Aberlour. Coutts Trotter, Esq., 17 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. David Murray, Esq., LL.D., Glasgow. Robert Marshall, Esq., Lasswade. The Right Hon. The Earl of Rosebery. The Right Hon. The Earl of Perth and Melfort. Lt.-Col. Drummond Moray, Yr. of Blair Drummond. General Sir H. P. De Bathe, Bart,, London. SlrW. W. Hunter, K.C.S.L. Oxford. J^. J. G. Mackav, Esq., Sheriff of Fife and Kinross. Professor Campbell Fkaser, Gorton House, Hawthornden. William Ramsav, Esq. of Bowland John Tod, Esq., Lasswade. Andrew Lang, Esq., Athenaeum Club, London- JoHN Murray, Esq., 50 Albemarle Street, London. W. Laidlaw Purves, Esq., 20 Stratford Place, London. J. M. Gray, Esq., Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, A. H. Millar, Esq., Rosslyn House, Clep- ington Road, Dundee. C. D. Donald, Esq., 172 St Vincent Street, Glasgow. Sir John Cowan, Bart, of Beeslack. Honorary Secretary and Treasurer. A. P. Purves, W.S., Esk Tower, Lasswade, Midlothian. MEMORIAL. ' I "HE Committee issued to the public the following circular : — In the Churchyard of Lasswade, on the northern slope of that picturesque valley of the Esk — "a Paradise of green" — ^which Drummond loved so well, lie his remains. Although only two miles from Hawthornden itself, which is now visited yearly by thousands in memory of his own words — " Dear wood, and you, sweet solitary place, Where I estranged from the vulgar live," it is rarely indeed that the traveller makes a pilgrimage to Drummond's Grave. It lies in a small aisle, the burying-place of his family, formerly connected with the ancient church ; but there is nothing to mark the resting- place of the sweetest and purest of Scottish poets of the period of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, and of the earlier period of Milton. Before 1640, Drummond, after having, as he himself tells us, " Twice been at the doors of death, And twice found shut those gates which ever mourn," b 10 addressed his intimate friend and brother poet, Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, Viscount Canada — " Alexis, when thou shalt hear wandering Fame Tell Death hath triumphed o'er my mortal spoils, And that on earth I am but a sad Name, If thou e'er held me dear, by all our love, By all that bliss, those joys, Heaven here us gave, I conjure thee, and by the Maids of Jove, To grave this short remembrance on my Grave : Here Damon lies, whose Sofigs did sometime grace The murmuring Esk. May Roses shade the place J " Those who live near the Poet's tomb will now do what death prevented Alexis from doing, and see that " Roses shade the place." They are very willing, too, to " grave " a "short remembrance on the Grave;" but that is a privilege which the English-speaking world may justly consider ought not to be the delight alone of those admirers of the Poet who dwell on the banks. of the " murmuring Esk," but ought to be open to all who desire to subscribe. The Memorial will consist of a Medallion of Drummond's head, with his Arms, and the Epitaph which he has himself supplied, " Here Damon lies, whose songs did sometime grace The murmuring Esk. May Roses shade the place!" to be placed on the Tomb ; and, if funds allow, it is proposed to place a Statue or some similar Memorial in such suitable locality as may be hereafter agreed upon. MELVILLE, . Chairman of Committee. A. P. PURVES, Esk Tower, Lasswade, Hon. Sec. and Trcas. 11 THE MEMORIAL TO DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN. Scotsman, loth October 1893. An interesting ceremony takes place to-morrow in the old Churchyard of Lasswade, picturesquely situated on the green slopes overhanging the Esk. The poet, William Drummond of Haw- thornden, died two centuries and a half ago, 1649, but he being dead yet speaketh, not certainly a Shakespeare or a Milton, nor even possessing the fire and genius of Burns, but with a genuine, melodious note of his own, characterised by elegance and simplicity, and an easy natural flow of versification. He is said to be the first Scottish poet who wrote in pure English. His sonnets are the pieces best known, and of most merit, reminding one a little of the style and manner of those of Shakespeare. Some of them, and others of his short poems, are love rhapsodies with a vein of sensuousness, characteristic of the age, running through them. They were written in praise of the personal charms and qualities of the lady who was to be his wife, a daughter of Cunningham of Barns, but she died on the eve of the wedding day. This melancholy event had a marked influence on the whole of Drummond's future life, and the elegiac poems and essays are no doubt attributable to the same cause. They lament in a sort of in memoriam way the loss of his betrothed, and he remarks somewhere that he was " the first to celebrate a dead mistress." The sonnet below is a fair example of his sadder muse, and indicates, besides, a love and appreciation of the charm of natural scenery, a feeling which in another century had almost died out in English poetry : — " What doth it serve to see Sun's burning face, And slcies enamelled with both Indies' gold ? Or moon at night in jetty chariot rolled, And all the glory of that slarry place? What doth it serve earth's beauty to behold — The mountains' pride, the meadows' flowery grace, The stately comeliness of forests old. The sport of floods which would themselves embrace ? 12 What doth it serve to hear the sylvans' songs, The wanton merle, the nightingale's sad strains, Which in dark shades seem to deplore my wrongs ? For what doth serve all that this world contains, Sith she for whom those once to me were dear No part of them can have now with me here ? " Drummond's prose works are not familiar to the general reader, and none of them is of great importance. Neither in prose or verse had he any long-sustained endeavours, his efforts, especially in the latter direction, being for the most part only " short swallow-flights of song." His longest attempt in prose is " The History of the Five Jameses,'' which is not very enticing reading. Another is the " Cypress Grove,'' a dissertation on the mutability of earthly things, and reflections against the fear of death. He also published a number of political tracts on subjects connected with the troubles of the period. His loyalty was of the most fervid description, and several of his pamphlets were written to restrain what he thought the violent counsels of the Covenanters. At the same time he was no advocate of passive obedience. In one of these documents he says " that King and people should both mutually keep inviolably their oaths and promises,'' and one breaking the contract, the other is released. Apart from his literary merits, Drummond was one of the most accomplished men of his time. He was great in classical learning, spoke several modern languages fluently, and had also a considerable turn for mechanical science and mathematical studies. In general culture and several other respects he resembles Gray, the author of the " Elegy," a good deal. His family was an old and illustrious one. An early Drummond was a brother of Annabella Drummond, the Queen of Robert III., and a still earlier member of the clan was commander of the ship in which Edgar and his sister Margaret, the future wife of Malcolm Canmore, reached the Scottish shores. Drummond's father was Sir John Drummond, second son of Drummond of Carnock, and his mother was Dame Susannah Fowler, daughter of a burgess of Edinburgh, who was afterwards secretary to the Queen. Hawthornden, with which his name is indissolubly associated, was acquired by the Drummonds in 1598, having originally belonged to the Abernethys of Salton, and afterwards 13 to a branch of the Douglases. It is to be feared that few of the many visitors to Hawthornden Castle, and the grand ravine in which it is situated, know much about the poet or his works. But although not a magnate in English literature, Drummond has a secure reputation of his own, and it is to help in per- petuating this that the memorial has been erected. It is a mural structure, plain to simplicity, and placed outside what may be called the Drummond Mausoleum in Lasswade Churchyard, which formerly formed part of the old church, now an insignifi- cant ruin. The memorial consists of a bronze medallion of good size set in a square slab of freestone, with some rather tasteful carving in the upper portion. The likeness is good, evidently taken from the same original as the portrait in Professor Masson's life of the poet. His name and the dates of his birth and death appear below, and there is appended the following appropriate couplet from one of his own poems : — " Here Damon lies, whose songs did sometime grace The murmuring Esk. May roses shade the place I " u DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN. Scottish Leader, 22,rd October 1893. Memorial in Lasswade Churchyard. On Saturday afternoon there was unveiled in Lasswade Churchyard a memorial to the poet William Drummond of Hawthornden, the most prominent Scottish literary name of the 17th century. The memorial, which is attached to the exterior of the Drummond family vault, is a plain mural structure consisting of a medallion cast in bronze and set in freestone, with a few decorative touches in the upper section. The whole has been designed by Mr W. Birnie Rhind, A.R.S.A., whose plan was accepted as the best by the Committee after full con- sideration, and out of a large number of competitors. Other particulars in connection with the memorial have already been published in these columns. There was a company of between 100 and 200 present, including Lord Melville, who presided; Professor Masson; Sir James Drummond of Hawthornden; Mr J. F. W. Drummond, Ednam ; Professor Struthers, Professor Campbell Fraser; Sheriff^. J. G. Mackay; Sir John Cowan, Bart, of Beeslack; Rev. J. A. Burdon, Lasswade; Mr J. R. Findlay of Aberlour ; Mr A. P. Purves, W.S. ; Mr George Seton, Advocate ; Mr W. C. Smith, Advocate; Mr C. Ritchie, S.S.C; Dr Hunter Mackenzie; the Rev. J. C. Grant, Loanhead; Mr Campbell Hossack, W.S.; Mr J. H. Balfour, W.S.; Mr F. J. Grant, W.S.; Dr A. P. Aitken ; Mr Christopher Aitchison, Loanhead ; Mr T. Graves Law, Signet Library; Mr Traquair Dickson, W.S.; Mr Dudley Drummond; Messrs J. J. Cook, A. Daniell, G. W. Burnett, F. T. Cooper, G. Forsyth Grant, and J. Crabb Watt, Advocates ; Mr R. Marshall, Lasswade ; Bailie Brown, Loanhead ; Mr W. Dougall, Edinburgh ; Mr P. W. Adam, A.R.S.A.; Mr James Burdon; Mr Charles Clark, Banker; Mr Richard Baird Smith, Milton ; Rev. D. W. I^mont Wallace, Cockpen ; Mr Eric Sutherland ; Mr Duncan Romans ; Lady Drummond ; Lady Scoresby Johnstone ; The Misses Agnew, Hawthornden House ; Mrs Dudley Drummond ; Mrs J. ¥. W. Drummond, Ednam ; Mrs Balfour, Springbank ; Mrs Bain, 1.5 Elizaville ; Mrs Ritchie, Mrs Purves, Mrs Campbell Fraser, Mrs Struthers, Mrs Adam, Mrs C. J. Allan, Mrs Burdon, Mrs Christopher Aitchison, Mrs Eric Sutherland ; Miss Agnes Baird Smith, Milton ; Misses Dickson, Dumfries ; Misses Anderson, Dalhousie Grange ; Miss Wallace, Cockpen ; Miss Fraser, MisS Rosaline Masson, The Misses Gordon, Miss Lang, Miss Duncan, The Misses Burdon, Miss Helen Aitchison, and many others. Lord Melville, president of the Memorial Committee, in unveiling the memorial, and handing it over to Sir James Drummond of Hawthornden, the representative of .the poet, said it was a pleasant duty that he had to perform, the unveiling of a memorial to the poet, William Drummond of Hawthornden. It was now nearly two centuries and a half ago since his body was laid to rest in that enclosure, and it had occurred to some of their local gentlemen that there was no tombstone, or any sign whatever, to mark his last resting-place. Mr Purves had taken up the matter very warmly and very heartily, and it was chiefly owing to his initiatory energy that a scheme was set on foot to erect the memorial, which he was then about to unveil. Of course, it was rather difficult to get the funds at first, but by the help of the large family of Drummonds, many Scottish nobility, and many literary characters, they were enabled to get the funds together which had produced the memorial. He thought every- one would say it was worthy of the object for which it had been erected. He would not dilate much upon the writings of the poet. He would be succeeded by one who was much more able to speak of his works and life, and they were very pleased to see that gentleman present. Most of them would have read the most able work of Professor Masson, in which he gave in detail all the circumstances connected with the life and writings of the poet. Therefore he did not require to touch further on that subject, but would content himself only with alluding to another memorial, which he would say was probably more lasting than the one he was about to uncover — his library, which he left to the University of Edinburgh. He did not recollect having seen very much about this collection of books left to Edinburgh University. He dared say that in some Scottish magazine it might form a future chapter, which would dilate upon his works, many of which would probably be in the character of the writings which 16 rendered Drummond himself so celebrated. They had had great difficulty in selecting the exact form of the memorial. He thought they had now hit upon one in keeping with the old device to which it is attached, and he thought it would attract the attention of his countrymen and of literary characters of any future period. Lord Melville then unveiled the memorial. Mr PuRVES stated that the lines underneath the medallion were from the works of the poet, and put there in accordance with his own request. They were as follows : — " Here Damon lies, whose songs did sometime grace The murmuring Esk. May roses shade the place ! " Sir James Drummond, in replying, stated that he felt it a very great honour to be present on that spot that day as a representative of the poet, Drummond of Hawthornden. He felt also honoured in that it had fallen to his lot to return thanks to them for their unsolicited mark of appreciation of the many virtues which the poet himself contained, and to thank them for that beautiful medallion which they had placed to his memory that day — a lasting memorial which would be handed down for many generations to come as an appreciation of his many virtues. As they stood there in that sacred spot, they were reminded how many generations had come and gone, and they ought to realise how short was the life-interest in each of their homes, and that they should do their part as " it seemeth best in God's sight." He felt sure that as they had thought that the poet did do the part which was allotted to him during his lifetime, that they would place there that lasting tribute of his fame. No doubt a great many of them could recall to remembrance those beautiful words which the poet used himself in one of his poems, when he said that "This life which seems so sweet is like a bubble blown up in the air by sporting children." He thought these words were very appropriate and well-fitted for contemplation that day, and he would only conclude by saying he very much appreciated the honour that they had done to the family by placing that lasting tribute to the memory of the poet Drummond. Mr A. P. PuRVES, W.S., Esk Tower, Lasswade, honorary secretary, on behalf of the Memorial Committee, said he had been requested to make a short statement as to the origin and 17 carrying out of the memorial. In his view the origin of that memorial lay in Professor Masson's book, " Drummond of Hawthornden ; his Life and Writings." Therein one read of an old Scottish soldier of fortune, who, writing from Holland, assumed that that inscription had been placed on Drummond's grave after his death. Mourning over him, he assumed that that wish of the poet's had been complied with. That was really the idea which started the matter. Without the slightest difficulty a number of gentlemen, like Lord Melville and Professor Masson, had come together to carry out that conception. There had been no difficulty whatever in forming a committee, and sending out requests for moderate subscriptions. They had not got so much money as had been expected. An application had been made to the colonies and to the United States. That did not come to much, though they had got a little from the United States, chiefly through the kindness of Mr John Paton, of New York, who was born in Lasswade Manse. That caused a delay of many months. In no case had any one ever been asked for subscriptions except by means of the ordinary circular, so that every penny had been voluntarily subscribed. Although they had enough to carry out the original idea of the committee, they should have liked perhaps to have had something more significant. At the same time, the sculptor had done his work well. The design was selected from five or six designs submitted for competition, and the committee had been satisfied that the best was selected, having at the same time regard to the funds at their command. Some of them who lived in the district had been able to rear roses on two sides of the tomb. 18 ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR MASSON. Professor Masson, in rising to speak for the subscribers, was received with loud applause. He said — Lord Melville, ladies and gentlemen, it is rather a remarkable incident that a funeral which took place 244 years ago should be in a manner repeated now. It is a remarkable thing that so many here should be met to commemorate a man who was buried in this spot 244 years ago ; and yet it is not strange. One is struck with the fact that, while public men — men of high social note — ministers who wield the destinies of nations, and who for a while are conspicuous in the public eye — and have their names in every mouth — often leave no memory of them after some generations, yet some poor scribe in prose or in verse emerges still honoured and remembered. Not marble, nor gilded monu- ments of princes, shall outlive the powerful rhymer. Some obscure man writes something in prose or in verse, and long afterwards the song he wrote — the piece of thoughtful prose he wrote — will be affecting all hearts, so that many people will be willing to do anything to show how strongly they hold that dead old rhymer or that dead old prose-writer in memory. That explains why we are here to-day. There are certain peculiarities about Drummond which specially entitle him to this posthumous regard in Scotland, and among the Scottish people. He was almost the one literary star of pure radiance in a singularly dark- some time of Scottish literary history. In the interval between Sir David Lyndsay and Allan Ramsay, a long interval, when Scotland was doing great work — energetic and powerful work — and even producing remarkable writings of a controversial kind, there was a singular destitution of pure poetry or pure literature of any sort in Scotland, and Drummond was seen as a soft Italian star twinkling in the long night of comparative darkness. If on that account alone, we should be glad to be here met, to say that we now pay our respects for what this man did for Scottish literature when scarcely any others were doing anything similar. But then the kind of service he rendered was also remarkable. He was a pure poet — a poet of the sweet, descriptive, reflective order — a man who inherited perhaps more than any man has ever done in Scotland of what we call the 19 Spenserian style. He was nearest to the Elizabethan generation, and was an admirer of Spenser and the favourite poets of the Elizabethan generation. He was probably the first man in Scotland who had in his possession some of the works of Shake- speare, having bought them in his youth when in England, and he nursed himself upon these and similar works, turning out in a controversial age the devotee of what was purest in literature. And even without anything of exaggeration — and of course there have been in Scotland poets of stronger and more emphatic genius of various kinds — there has been no poet with those special characteristics in Scotland more entitled still to our admiration than Drummond. Of course nowadays, with such an accumulation of past books, no one can be acquainted with them all, even with the writings of those we most revere and remember. But there are writings of Drummond which can still be read with great delight, even with unrestricted pleasure. I do not know if this can be said of his laudatory poem written in honour of the visit of James VI. to Scotland, when he had been fourteen years away on the banks of the Thames. This was one of the memorial poems of welcome, and a very good one of its kind, but one would not now get into ecstasies over it. But there are many of Drum- mond's sonnets and smaller poems of the most admirable kind, with a beauty of melancholy, a tender gentle genius, a musical melody, and fine thought — so much so that a critic like the English Hallam could speak of Drummond's sonnets as amongst the best in the English language. Then he was a beautiful prose-writer. He lived in a controversial air, and he plunged into the politics of his time — politics which so often make wreck of genius — but he took a manly part in the politics of his time. He wrote squibs and pamphlets, and extraordinarily clever they were. He left as the best of his prose writings one which is entitled to high distinction in the history of the language — a prose poem called " A Cypress Grove." I do not know that there is even yet a more beautiful and more musical prose piece in English literature. It is a fine philosophical piece of writing by Drummond of Hawthornden ; my friend Professor Campbell Eraser has a special liking for it ; and the admiration of Professor Eraser for a piece of philoso- phical writing is something worthy of being mentioned. Then this beautiful-minded man — so thoughtful and melancholy — is supposed, 20 though this is not quite so certain, to have written one of the broadest pieces of Fifeshire farce that have ever been written in Fife or anywhere else — a piece in dog-I,atin called "Polemo- Middinia," which is really a sort of imaginary fight between the people of two estates in Fifeshire. It is a piece of the freest, roughest, and most capital humour — I was going to say in the English language ; but it is, as I have said, in Scoto-Latin, and if Drummond is the author (and I don't know who it is if it is not he), a very complex genius has to be attributed to him. Though generally melancholy and beautiful, yet, as every Scotch- man can, he is able to indulge in the most rollicking humour. These are the grounds upon which we are met together now. We are met together, let me conclude by saying, because Mr Purves resolved we should meet together. He was good enough to say something of me in this connection ; but it was Mr Purves who conceived the idea of this memorial, and all the trouble of writing letters, and arranging matters in connection with the selection of the form of the memorial, has devolved on him. Besides this, the merit, for it is a merit, of securing a likeness the most authentic possible of Drummond belongs to Mr Purves. The likeness upon which it is based is to be found in Hawthornden House. Mr Purves has had to see not only to the getting up of the memorial, but to securing that it should be the most authentic and the finest possible. Mr Purves at this stage read over the names of several gentle- men connected with letters and art who had taken an interest in the movement. Amongst these were Sir George Reid, /".R.S.A.; Sir Theodore Martin; Mr John Skelton, C.B., Hermitage of Braid ; Sir Noel Paton ; Mr Andrew Lang ; Mr G. L. Craik ; the late Mr John Murray, Publisher; Mr F. T. Palgrave; Mr Edmund Gosse ; the Rev. Francis Jacox ; Professor Masson ; Mr John Tod ("John Strathesk"); Mr George Seton ; Sheriff Mackay ; and others. Sir John Cowan, Bart, of Beeslack, on the part of the subscribers, proposed a vote of thanks to the Rev. J. A. Burdon and the heritors of Lasswade parish for the liberty granted for the erection of that tablet of the poet Drummond, which they now saw and admired so much. He believed that they were all more or less acquainted with the attractions of the Esk— of that beautiful neighbour- 21 hood — with which he thought no river of its size in Scotland could at all be compared; for when they traced it from Habbie's Howe, rendered so celebrated by Allan Ramsay, through the Penicuik policy, Roslin, Hawthornden, Lasswade, Melville, and Dalkeith, they enjoyed scenery not to be excelled by that of any other stream of similar dimensions. They were all more or less connected with that district. He remembered it very well in his earlier days. Whatever scenes he had visited, he had never seen one that came with more sweet- ness to his memory than the river Esk. Accordingly he hailed with great satisfaction the proposal which Mr Purves so valiantly and so heartily carried out — the erection of the memorial to a man so associated with the river, William Drummond, the poet. He concluded by moving that their cordial thanks be awarded to Mr Burdon and to the heritors for the approval of the plan which Mr Purves had so unweariedly carried out, and for the liberty of establishing that memorial in the poet's memory. The Rev. J. A. Burdon, on behalf of the heritors of Lasswade and himself, thanked the company for their pleasant remem- brance of them on the auspicious occasion. He could assure them that, as custodiers of the ancient burial-place, they would always esteem it a privilege to do what in them lay to preserve the beautiful tablet, which, to his mind, appropriately embalmed in deftly wrought bronze and chiselled stone the desire for remembrance on the part of him whose place in the stream of poetic purity and force they had tardily tried to fix by a real memorial on his grave : — "Men but like visions are, time all doth claim ; He lives, who dies to win a lasting name." Mr Dudley Drummond, as a member of the Hawthornden family, moved a vote of thanks to Mr W. B. Rhind, the sculptor of the medallion, for the very pleasing and successful way in which he had carried out his work in that connection. Mr J. H. Balfour, county clerk, moved a cordial vote of thanks to Mr Purves and the committee for the labour of love that they had undertaken. Professor Campbell Fraser moved a vote of thanks to 1-ord Melville for presiding on an occasion interesting not only to 22 Hawthornden and Midlothian, but to Scotland generally, and indeed to those anywhere who can be touched by historic memories, or who love literature and meditative thought. They all felt that no one could more appropriately have presided on this occasion than Lord Melville, who so worthily represented an illustrious Scottish family, which, like that of Drummond, shed lustre on the valley of the Esk. In replying, Lord Melville alluded to the great classical talent for which Drummond was so celebrated. In these days classical literature had been rather inclined to die out, but he was happy to think that it was again in process of revival. The proceedings then terminated. 23 DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN. Scottish Leader, zyd October 1893. The elegant monument which was erected on Saturday in Lasswade Churchyard has the merit of fulfilling, after many years, the wish of the poet to whom it is erected. The epitaph inscribed upon it is the one which Drummond wrote for himself in 1640. Like the astronomer-poet of Naishapur, he desired that roses might shade his tomb. It is to be hoped that this part also of his wish may be realised by the kindly hand of some lover of good poetry. It is of course as a poet of the Spenserian school that Drummond is best remembered, although, as Professor Masson reminded us on Saturday, he wrote some good prose in his time, and may be fairly credited with one of the best dog- Latin humorous poems extant. If the fun is rather broader than our modern taste warrants, that is very much a matter of con- vention. Whether everyone who subscribed to this monument had read all of Drummond's verse, is a question that need not be asked. Those who only know him from the " sweet sugared sonnets " and dainty songs included in Mr Palgrave's " Golden Treasury," have read enough to convince them that he was in his way as true a poet as Scotland has ever produced. Perhaps, after all, the work of his that is most interesting to us nowadays, is the record of the conversation which he had with Ben Jonson on that famous pedestrian visit which " rare Ben " made to the Northern Kingdom. Drummond was not exactly a Boswell ; but he deserves some credit, in these days that deal in ana, for having preserved a unique record of the spacious times of the Mermaid and the Globe. 2-t MEMORIAL TO A POET. The Times, 2yrd October 1893. The ceremony of unveiling a memorial to the poet, William Drummond of Hawthornden, took place on Saturday afternoon in the Churchyard of Lasswade, Midlothian. The memorial consists of a bronze medallion, set in a block of freestone, tastefully carved in the Elizabethan style, and built into the wall immediately over the entrance to the Drummond Mausoleum. Below the medallion is the following inscription : — " William Drummond, Hawthornden, born 1585, died 1649." The follow- ing lines by the poet are also given : — " Here Damon lies, Whose songs did sometime grace the murmuring Esk. May roses shade the place ! " Lord Melville, chairman of the committee, explained the steps that had been taken for the erection of the memorial, and said he thought they had produced a monument worthy of the poet. He then unveiled the memorial, and formally handed it over to the custody of Sir James Drummond of Hawthornden. Sir James, in returning thanks, said he felt it a very great honour, as the representative of the Drummonds of Hawthornden, to be entrusted with the custody of the memorial, which would be handed down to future generations as showing the high ap- preciation of the poet's many virtues. Mr A. P. Purves, honorary secretary, said the movement to erect the memorial originated after the publication of Professor Masson's life of the poet. Professor Masson, on behalf of the subscribers, delivered an address, and said that Drummond was the almost solitary literary star of pure radiance in a singularly darksome time of Scottish literary history. In the interval between Sir David Lyndsay and Allan Ramsay there was a singular destitution of pure poetry or literature of any sort in Scotland. Drummond of Hawthornden was seen as the soft Italian star, twinkling in that comparatively long night of darkness. Drummond was a pure poet, one of the sweet descriptive, reflective order. He was probably the first man in Scotland who had in his possession 25 some of the works of Shakespeare, which he bought in London. He turned out in a controversial age what was the purest in literature. Sir John Cowan, Bart, of Beeslack, Professor Campbell PYaser, and others, took part in the proceedings. Scotsman, 2^rd October 1893. On Saturday the memorial which has been erected to William Drummond of Hawthornden, the poet, in the Churchyard of Lasswade, was unveiled, in presence of a large company of ladies and gentlemen. Viscount Melville, chairman of the committee, presided at the ceremony. 26 Jib JIHants GULIELMI DRUMMOND. How many summers have to autumn turned Since thou wast numbered in the names of men ; How many splendours have to ashes burned Since thou wast hither borne from Hawthornden ! But not the flight of summers, nor the breath With which Time ruinates the power of kings, Shall wake thy name, as heritage of death, To dwell with darkness and with vanished things. For thou, when Poesy, in times of pain. Saw few draw near in reverence to her shrine, Did'st seek her wisdom, as life's highest gain. And worship her in that sweet wood of thine. And thus thy fame shall Time's strong sieges brave While Esk runs on, in hearing of thy grave. Stewart A. Robertson. Lasswade Churchyard, ZUt October 1S93. 27 {From the " Scots7nan " of Zih November 1 893.) A TRAGIC ROMANCE OF NEARLY THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. Within the past few days has been brought to light an interesting memorial closely connected with a sad episode in the early career of " that most famous wit," William Drummond of Hawthornden. Although Drummond died in 1649, it is only during the present year that a monument has been erected to mark his resting-place in Lasswade Churchyard, where it was unveiled on the 21st October. By what, to many, may seem a strange coincidence, so recently as the 13th of October, a tombstone was discovered which is undoubtedly that of the young lady (a Miss Cunningham) who died, nearly three centuries ago, just before the day fixed for her marriage with the poet. The stone was found, upon the occasion of a drain being formed within the ancient churchyard of Crail, about 18 inches below the surface, and immediately to the east of the vestry or session-house — a position, therefore, at one time almost exactly in the centre of the chancel, which extended 20 feet beyond the present east gable of the church. This relic, measuring about 31 by 36 inches, and of a very soft sandstone, has formed the upper half of a large flat slab. Un- fortunately, the inscription at the head is almost entirely worn away, and no trace of the lower portion of the stone could be discovered. Enough remains, however, to positively identify it as having commemorated a daughter of Alexander Cunningham of West Barns, and one who died before 1620, in her nineteenth year. The still surviving record runs, — HlC lACET • VIRGO • HO • • • • BARNIS . OBIIT . AN . DO . l6l ■ • • • • • • ■ E (SV)^ 19, while upon a shield in the centre of the fragment are the arms of Cunningham — a shake-fork with a star in chief — 28 with, at the sides, the large initials E. C. Below is the text, — " ALTHOH ■ THE • VORMS MY • FLESH • EAT • IN THIS • PLACE ZIT • I • SAL • BE • MY " (here the stone is broken off). The armorial bearings are precisely the same as those which still exist upon an old carved oak panel in the south aisle of Crail Church, together with the initials A. C. (Alexander Cunningham), and the date 1605. Not far from this panel is another with the initials H. M. at either side of a shield bearing three roundels — the arms of Helen Myrton, daughter of Thomas Myrton of Cambo, and wife of Alexander Cunningham of Barns, whom she married in 1596 — these being certainly the parents of Drummond's fiancee. Hitherto no sepulchral memorial of any of the Cunninghams could be found at Crail, although they had possessed the estate of West Barns (about a mile west from the burgh) for four centuries from the year 1376. Some time ago the present writer unsuccessfully endeavoured to ascertain the Christian name of the young lady who was to have wedded Drummond of Hawthornden ; but, judging from such as are known to have occurred in the Cunningham and Myrton families, and from the clue now received, it was prob- ably Elizabeth. The death, from a fever, of (?) Elizabeth Cunningham upon the very eve of her intended marriage, must have taken place in the year 1615, at the early age of eighteen. It was in the following year that Drummond published his "Poems — Amorous, Funerall, Divine, Pastorall " (printed by Andro Hart), in which the " First Part " of the principal piece celebrates the charms of his chosen bride, and his distress at her temporary absence ; while the " Second Part " consists of bitter lamentations over her untimely death — " I have nought left to wish, my Hopes are dead, And all with her beneath a Marble laid." 29 If (as is commonly believed, and seems for many reasons highly probable) Drummond was really the author of " Polemo- Middinia," he must have penned that famous Macaronic as a playful skit upon some right-of-way dispute between his sister, Lady Scot of Scotstarvit (often resident at Sir John Scot's house of Thjrdpart), and the parents of Miss Cunningham, who were close neighbours. As is well known, Drummond ultimately married, in 1632, Elizabeth Logan, to whom, indeed, it is said that he was first attracted by some resemblance in her to his lost bride. The newly discovered tombstone is of a common seventeenth century type — a " through stone," lettered round the border with an epitaph commencing " Hie iacet honorabilis vir," " Heir lys ane honest young man," " Heir hes ane honest and virtuous gentlewoman," " Heir lyes ane faithful brother in Christ," or so forth — the general formula being closely observed. Any student of the subject must admit that there was (and, for that matter, still is) a strongly marked fashion even in tombstones. E. B, [The above is an exact reprint of a contribution which appeared in the Scotsman of 8th November 1893. The writer has since (through the kindness of the Rev. A. T. Grant, Leven) been informed of a Sasine, still existing, of date 29th June 1604 (Fife Sasines, vol. ii., folio 158, H.M. Register House), by which "Alexander Cunynghame of Westbarnis," for the love and favour which he bore to his daughter " Euphame," infefted her in an annual rent of 600 merks .Scots, payable out of his lands. William Myrtoun, fiar of Cambo and maternal uncle to Euphame, acted for, and received the infeftment on her behalf. It would appear, both from the wording of this deed and from the amount of the provision, that Euphame was (at that period at least) an only daughter. She could not then have been more than about seven years old, and it is evident that it was she who was afterwards betrothed to William Drummond of Hawthornden, and who died in 1615, in her nineteenth year. It may also be worthy of note, that on 28th March 1616 Alexander Cunningham of parns received a licence to go abroad and remain for three years. This purposed journey may not improbably have had some connection with the recent loss of his daughter. The complete epitaph round "Euphame" Cunningham's tombstone 30 (which evidently lay flat in the centre of the old chancel of Crail Church) probably ran somewhat as follows : — "HIC- IACET • VIRGO • HONORABILIS • EVPHEMIA FILIA • ALEX ANDRI • CVNYNGHAME • DE • VESTBARNIS ■ OBIIT • AN • DO • 1615 AETATIS • SVAE • I9 " The recently-discovered half of the stone has now, for safe-keeping, been built into the wall of the short passage which leads to the vestry. Erskine Beveridge.] [St Leonard's Hill, Dunfermline, 1894.]