REV. JOHN LEYDEN, M.D.

1775-1811.

BY THOMAS JOHNSTONE, M.D. EDIN. M.R.C.P. LOND.

PHYSICIAN TO THE "ILKLEY HOSPITAL,' THE "SEMON CONVALESCENT
HOME," THE "SPA HYDROPATHIC ESTABLISHMENT," PHYSICIAN
TO THE "BEN RHYDDING SANATORIUM AND HYDROPATHIC
ESTABLISHMENT," MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH

FOR ILKLEY.

THIS distinguished classical and oriental scholar and poet was born at Denholm, in the parish of Cavers, Roxburghshire, September 1775. His early knowledge he received from his father's mother, he attended the village school at Kirkton, and was subsequently placed under the tuition of a Cameronian clergyman. At the age of fifteen he proceeded to the University of Edinburgh. At this eminent seat of learning he made wonderful progress, mastering Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, besides becoming acquainted with Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian. When his studies were completed Leyden accepted a post as tutor, and proceeded with his pupils to St. Andrews University, where in 1798 he was licensed as a probationer. At St. Andrews he made further progress with his oriental studies, and in 1799 published a work entitled "An Historical and Philosophical Sketch of the Discourses and Settlements of the Europeans in Northern and Central Africa, at the close of the Eighteenth Century." In 1800 he was ordained, but it is not recorded that he ever held any spiritual charge--some of his friends including Bishop Heber, Dr. Mackenzie, Sir Walter Scott, and Lord Woodhouselee endeavoured to obtain for him the chair of rhetoric at Edinburgh-but their efforts were unsuccessful. At this period Leyden commenced contributing to the Edinburgh Magazine," "Tales of Wonder," and Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Border," and for six months he undertook the editorship of the "Scots' Magazine." In 1802 he was appointed surgeon in the East India Company's service, and about the same time the University of St. Andrews conferred on him the degree of M.D.-The doctor's last winter in Great Britain was spent in London, where he enjoyed the companionship of many distinguished men of letters. He sailed for India in 1803, and within a few months after his arrival was appointed professor of Hindustani in the Bengal College. He soon exchanged this appointment for that of judge in the twenty-four Pergunnahs of Calcutta, followed by the position of Commissioner of the Court of Requests and Assay Master of the Mint.-In 1811 Dr. Leyden joined the army as a volunteer in the expedition against Java. He was one of the first to land at Batavia, but here he unfortunately became affected with the fatal sickness peculiar to the place, and he died on the eve of the battle which gave Java to

REV. JOHN LEyden.

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the British Empire.-Sir John Malcolm, Sir Walter Scott, and many others honoured his memory by notices of his life and genius, and in Sir Walter's "Lord of the Isles" occurs the following tributary lines to this distinguished scholar, patriot and poet :

"Scarbra's Isle, whose tortured shore

Still rings to Corrievrekin's roar,

And lonely Colonsay,

Scenes sung by him who sings no more!
His brief and bright career is o'er,

And mute his tuneful strains;
Quench'd is his lamp of varied lore
That loved the light of song to pour;
A distant and a deadly shore

Has Leyden's cold remains.

Dr. Leyden was the author of several volumes of poetry including The Complaynt of Scotland," "Scottish Descriptive Poems," and "The Scenes of Infancy," the latter volume contained a life of the author by the Rev. W. W. Tulloch, B.D., of the Parish Church, Kelso.

Ode to the Evening Star.

How sweet thy modest light to view,
Fair star! to love and lovers dear;
While trembling on the falling dew,
Like beauty shining through a tear,
Or hanging o'er that mirror stream,
To mark that image trembling there,
Thou seem'st to smile with softer gleam,
To see thy lovely face so fair.
Though, blazing o'er the arch of night,
The moon thy timid beams outshine
As far as thine each starry light,

Her rays can never vie with thine.
Thine are the soft enchanting hours
When twilight lingers on the plain,
And whispers to the closing flowers
That soon the sun will rise again.
Thine is the breeze that, murmuring bland
As music, wafts the lover's sigh,
And bids the yielding heart expand
In love's delicious ecstacy.

Fair star! though I be doom'd to prove

That rapture's tears are mix'd with pain,

Ah! still I feel 'tis sweet to love

But sweeter to be loved again.

REV. JOHN LOGAN.

1748-1788.

BY JOSEPH JAMES. D.Sc. PH.D.

THIS poet and sermon-writer was born at Soutra, Mid-Lothian, and was the son of a small farmer. At the University of Edinburgh he became acquainted with Michael Bruce and Dr. Robertson, and in company with the former he cultivated poetical reading and composition. Though his parents were Dissenters, he preferred on leaving the university to join the Established Church, and was licensed to South Leith Parish, 1773. His poems, published in 1781, attracted so much attention, that a second edition was called for next year. He was widely accused of using in this volume many poems supposed to have been written by Michael Bruce. He strenuously denied this during the remainder of his life, but it was a difficult thing to prove either way, and probably will never be satisfactorily settled. In 1783 Logan produced a tragedy, which however, did not turn out a success. Resigning his living, he went to London in 1786 and died there on December 28th, 1788.

His poetry, which has been several times reprinted, was at one time very popular, and will always be acceptable for its happy expressions and its extreme sweetness of versification. His ode to the cuckoo and some of his hymns may be expected to bear the test of time.

To the Cuckoon

HAIL, beauteous stranger of the grove!
Thou messenger of Spring

Now Heaven repairs thy rural seat,

And woods thy welcome sing.

What time the daisy decks the green,

Thy certain voice we hear;
Hast thou a star to guide thy path,
Or mark the rolling year?

Delightful visitant! with thee
I hail the time of flowers,
And hear the sound of music sweet

From birds among the bowers.

REV. JOHN LOGAN.

The school-boy, wandering through the wood
To pull the primrose gay,

Starts, the new voice of Spring to hear,
And imitates thy lay.

What time the pea puts on the bloom,

Thou fliest thy vocal vale,

An annual guest in other lands,
Another Spring to hail.

Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green,
Thy sky is ever clear;

Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,
No Winter in thy year!

Oh, could I fly, I'd fly with thee!
We'd make, with joyful wing,
Our annual visit o'er the globe,
Companions of the Spring.

Extract from The Complaint of Nature.

BEHOLD! sad emblem of thy state,
The flowers that paint the field ;
Or trees that crown the mountain's brow,
And boughs and blossoms yield.

When chill the blast of Winter blows,

Away the Summer flies,

The flowers resign their sunny robes,

And all their beauty dies.

Nipt by the year the forest fades;

And, shaking to the wind,

The leaves toss to and fro, and streak
The wilderness behind.

The Winter past, reviving flowers

Anew shall paint the plain,

The woods shall hear the voice of Spring,

And flourish green again.

But man departs this earthly scene,

Ah! never to return!

No second Spring shall e'er revive
The ashes of the urn.

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Drive on the loaded mules with sound of bells,
That, in the distance, of their presence tells,
To springs that, hid from the pursuing day,
Love only Night; who, loving them, doth stay
In the deep waters, moss and reed o'ergrown,

Or cold in caverns of the chilly stone,

Sought of the steep-built towns, whose white walls gleam
High 'midst the woods, or close by ocean's stream.

Like flowering aloes, the fair belfries soar
O'er houses clustered on the sandy shore;
From ancient battlements the eye surveys
A hundred lofty peaks and curving bays,
From where, at morn and eve, the sun may paint
The cliffs of Corsica with colours faint;

To where the fleets of haughty Genoa plied

The trade that humbled the Venetian's pride,

And the blue wastes, where roamed the men who came

To leaguer tower and town with sword and flame.

For by that shore, the scene of soft repose

When happy Peace her benison bestows,

Have storms, more dire than Nature's, lashed the coasts,

When met the tides of fierce contending hosts;
From the far days when first Liguria's hordes
Stemmed for a while the rush of Roman swords,
Only to mark how, on their native hill,
Turbia's trophy stamped the tyrant's will;
To those bright hours that saw the Moslem reel
Back from the conflict with the Christian steel.
These last were times when, emulous for creed,
And for his soul to battle and to bleed,
The warrior had no need of pilgrim's vow,
At eastern shrines, to lay the Paynim low;

For through the west, the Saracen had spread
The night that followed where his standards led.

Shortly after the issue of this volume the Marquis was made a member of Her Majesty's Privy Council. In 1877 the Marquis again appeared as an author and published "The Psalms, literally rendered in verse,' a work which throughout exhibits skilful treatment. In July of the following year his Lordship succeeded Lord Dufferin as Governor General of the Dominion of Canada, and Commandant in Chief of Prince Edward's Island. Shortly after this appointment he was created a Knight of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George. Accompanied by Her Royal Highness the Princess Louise, he proceeded to Canada in November, where they had a most enthusiastic reception. Five years of exceptional activity were spent in the Dominion, during which time he travelled through the length and extensive and flourishing country. Everywhere His Excellen

breadth

t cordial greetings, addresses of welcome

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