Buchan, in his memoir, lays no ftrefs upon any account of Crichton's literary exhibitions, excepting that which is given by Manutius; and even Manutius is blamed by his lordflip, for having had a great hare, by his own extravagance of language, in occafioning the bom baffic and intemperate praises which afterwards appeared of his young friend. It is to a refpectable and *A learned gentleman of North Bri tain, who doth not permit me the honour of mentioning his name, that I am indebted for feveral hints and communications, by which I have been greatly affifted in my endeavours to furnish a more complete and authentic narrative of the life of the admirable Crichton than has hitherto been written by any of his biographers." MEMOIRS OF ALEXANDER CRUDEN. [From the fame Work.] LEXANDER Cruden, M. A. was the fecond fon of Mr. William Cruden, merchant, and one of the baillies of Aberdeen, an office fimilar to that of alder man in England, and was born in the year 1701. He received his educa tion in the grammar fchool of Aberdeen, and was a fchool-fellow with the late George earl Marifchal, and James, afterwards the celebrated held marefchal Keith, who, in the school catalogue, were diftinguifhed by Dominus Georgius Keith, and magifter Jacobus Keith. At the expiration of the ufual number of years, Mr. Cruden entered as ftudent of Marifchal College. From his close attendance at the divinity lectures of Mr. Blackwell, father to the late principal Blackwell, he appears to have had thoughts of the church, as a profeffion; and although prevented by the melancholy change of mind which took place about this time, he preferved through the whole of life the impreffion that he was appointed by Heaven to preach the Gospel and reform mankind. "It is uncertain to what that infanity which now appeared in his words and actions, and which with few intervals accompanied him to his grave, is to be attributed. Some thought it was occafioned by the bite of a mad dog; but nothing can be gathered from the hiftory of that dreadful diftemper which favours this opinion. Others derived his madnefs from disappointment in a love affair, but it is uncertain whether this operated as a caufe or confequence. Some uncommon circumftances with which it was attended, however, will apologize for making mention of it in tais place. The object of his affection was the daughter of a clergyman of Aberdeen. Cruden courted her with enthufiafm and perfeverance, bur the lady thought proper to reject his addreffes, and his behaviour becoming outrageous and troublefome, her father ordered his doors to be fhut against him. This in creafed his paffion, and his friends foon found it neceffary to confine him for a confiderable time in prifon. The young lady in the mean while became pregnant, which was with too much reafon attributed to a criminal intercourfe with her own brother. She was fent into the country, and never returned. That Mr. Cruden fhared in the general horror which this event produced may the Old and New Teftament." If the merit of labour only be given to this work, it must be acknowledged that it required labour to which it is impoffible to make any addition, and perfeverance that knows no interval. Mr. Cruden was well qualified for fuch an undertaking; for habits of induftry were familiar to him, and his incli nation led him to form the plan and indeed to execute the whole, before he had received any encouragement from the public. The first edition was published in the year 1737. The preface explains his plan and his views in publishing. The book was dedicated to queen Caroline, who had given the author some reason to expect a gratu may be easily believed. He never mentioned the name of the unhappy woman but with the bittereft grief and most tender compaffion. "On his release from confinement, he gave up the pursuit of his ftudies at Aberdeen, and refolved to leave his native country. In the year 722 he came to London, and engaged in feveral families as private tutor to young perfons at school, or who were intended for the univerfity. In this employment he spent fome years in the Isle of Man. In the year 1732, we find him in London again, as corrector of the prefs and bookfeller. His fhop was under the Royal Exchange. While in this fituation, an incident happened, which Mr. Cruden numbered among the moft remarkable occurity on its being prefented to her. rences of his life. A gentleman from Aberdeen, who wished to serve Cruden, offered to introduce him to a merchant near the Royal Exchange, a near relation of the young lady above mentioned. When they knocked at the door of this merchant's houfe, it was opened by the young lady herfelf, who, unknown to Mr. Cruden, or his friend, had found an asylum here. Mr. Cruden ftarted back, with vifible figns of wonder and agony, and grafping his friend's hand, exclaimed wildly, "Ah! fhe has ftill her fine black eyes. It is perhaps unneceffary to add, that his hopes of intimacy in this family were now at an end. He did not then, nor ever after, enter the house, nor court the acquaintance of its owner, who was indeed a younger brother of the lady. "The year after he began to compile the work which entitles him to be ranked among the friends of literature, and confequently to a place in these records, He had long meditated "A complete Concordance of the Holy Scriptures of But a very few days before its pub- Robert Robert Wightman a notorioufly conceited whimfical Man, where he was chained, hand-cuffed, ftraitwaistcoated, and imprifoned, &c. &c." He alfo commenced an action against Dr. Monro, and other defendants, which was tried in Weftminfter-hall, July 17, 1739, when a verdict was given in favour of the defendants. After the verdict was given,Cruden faid, "I truft in God." The chief juftice, fir William Lee, replied, "I with you had trufted more in God, and not have come hither." Mr. Cruden had recourfe again to his pen, and publifhed an account of the trial with remarks on the œconomy of private madhoufes, which he dedicated to the late king. "After this he lived chiefly by correcting the prefs, and under his infpection feveral editions of the Greek and Roman claffics were publifhed with great accuracy. He rendered himself useful to the bookfellers and printers in various ways. His manners were inoffenfive: he was always to be trufted, and performed his engagements with ftrict fidelity. In thefe occupations he employed feveral years, until the return of his diforder obliged his friends a third time to fhut him up in a madhoufe. When he was released, he published his cafe with the whimfical title of "The Adventures of Alexander the Corrector."-Three parts afterwards appeared under the fame title. It is not eafy to characterise them. They are a faithful tranfcript of a wild mind, various, whimfical, ferious, and jocofe. His madnefs was fui generis. We find nothing like it in the annals of medicine, nor can it be accounted for on any known principles of phyfiology. The faculty are feldom called in, and feldom attend to cafes like that of Cruden; and the world either laughed at, or pitied him: in his worft paroxyfms it appears that he was perfectly harmlefs, and it is more than probable that the feverity of confinement unneceffarily, added to his disorder. "In September 1752, when laft released, he undertook what was more difficult to effect than all his former attempts. He endeavoured to perfuade one or two of his friends who had confined him, to fubmit to be imprisoned in Newgate, as a compenfation for the injuries they had brought upon him. To his fifter, he propofed, what he thought very mild terms; fhe was to have her choice of four prifons; Newgate, Reading and Aylesbury gaols, and the prifon in Windfor Caftle. When he found that his perfuafions were of no avail, he commenced an action against her and three others, and ftated his damages at 10,000l. The caufe was tried in February, 1754, and a verdict given in favour of the defendants. Cruden had now no remedy bur an appeal to the public: accordingly he published an account of this trial in a fix-penny pamphlet, dedicated to the king. He went to St. James's Palace to prefent it, but was prevented, and denied the honour of knighthood, to which, at this time, he afpired. "His phrenzy, indeed, was now at its height. He called himself "Alexander the Corrector," and gave out that he was commiffioned by Heaven to reform the manners of the age, particularly to restore the due obfervance of the Sabbath. To raise the public belief in his favour, he produced and printed certain prophecies of eminent miniffters and others, all anonymous, or with the initials only of names. The fubftance of these prophecies was ----- was that Mr. Cruden was to be a fecond Jofeph, to be a great man at court, and to perform great things for the fpiritual Ifrael in this finful Egypt, &c." Furnished with fuch credentials, he went to Oxford and Cambridge, and exhorted the ladies and gentlemen, whom he found in the public walks on the Sabbath, to go home and keep that day holy. But his advice was not welcomed as he wifhed, and on one occafion he narrowly efcaped corporal chastisement for having been too bold in his addresses to a young lady, who happened to be walking with a ftudent in Clare. hall walks. He generally followed his advice with a denunciation of eternal wrath in cafe of non-compliance. "On his return to London his ambition increased; for ambition he certainly indulged from the idea that he was deftined to a fuperior station in life; and the general election approaching, Mr. Cruden determined to ftand candidate for the city of London, and in a communhall was nominated by Mr. Sheriff Chitty, whom he had importuned to do this office for him. What will be thought very remarkable, Mr. Cruden had the fatisfaction to fee feveral hands held up for him; but he declined the poll, which was inftituted by the other party, and confequently loft his election. It is fcarcely poffible to record this event with hiftorical gravity; but it is worthy of notice that he had actually received promises of support, and was comforted by the reflection, as he fays himself, that if he had not the hands, he had the hearts of the citizens. His advertisements are fpecimens of his manner of speaking and writing concerning himself, when his phrenzy was at its height. About the fame time he paid his 1789. addreffes to a lady, but lamented that in this, as in every other great defign, he could not command fuccefs. "Amidft this feries of wild attempts and undertakings, Mr. Cruden devoted his beft hours to study. He was continually making additions to the Concordance, the fecond edition of which was published in 1761. At this time he was corrector of the prefs to the Public Advertiser, publifhed by the late Mr. Woodfall. He laboured, indeed, inceffantly at fome employment or other; and apportioned his time fo judiciously that only when he appeared in public, could he be faid to do nothing. The bufinefs of the printing office was rarely over before one o'clock in the morning, when the paper was put to prefs. Cruden feldom flept more than four or five hours, and before fix in the morning he might always be found turning over his Bible, adding, amending, and improving his Concordance with great and fcrupulous attention: at this he continued till evening, when he went to the printing office. This affiduous attention to useful objects, it was hoped, would restore his mind to a ftate of calm regularity, and in fome degree this was the cafe. His next appearance in public will be feen with fatisfaction. "In 1762, one Richard Potter, a failor, was tried and capitally condemned at the Old Bailey for forging, or rather uttering, knowing it to be forged, a feaman's will, a crime which then, as well as now, is rarely pardoned. It appeared, however, from the evidence, that Potter was a poor illiterate creature, the tool of another, and ignorant of the nature of the crime he committed. Fortunately for him, Mr. Cruden happened to be in court, and was fo firmly convinced that B Potter : Potter was a proper object of the royal clemency, that he determined to interfere in his behalf. To be more fully fatisfied, however, he vifited Potter in Newgate, examined him, and found that his crime was the crime of ignorance, without any evil intention on his part. But it was not to fave him from the fen. tence of the law only, that Cruden meditated. He prayed with him, exhorted him, taught him the principles of religion, and gave him a proper fenfe of the wickednefs of his paft life, and the enormity of the crime for which he was condemned in a word, he made a convert of a poor wretch, who had fcarcely ever heard of a God. He then began to devise means to obtain a pardon, and, improbable as it appeared, his repeated applications fucceeded, and Potter's fentence was changed into transporta tion. Mr. Cruden accompanied his petition to the earl of Hallifax, then fecretary of ftate, with a copy of the fecond edition of the Concordance, to which was prefixed an elegant Latin dedication to his lordfhip. The tenderness with which Mr. Cruden vifited, exhorted, fed and cloathed his pupil, the anxiety he felt, and the unceafing importunity of his applications to every perfon that could be ufeful to Potter, deferve to be remembered with approbation,, and to reconcile us to all his oddities. A particular account of the whole affair was publifhed the fame year, entitled " The Hiftory of Richard Potter, &c. &c." "The fuccefs Mr. Cruden had enjoyed in reforming this poor criminal induced him to continue his labours among the other felons in Newgate. He visited them every day, gave them New Teftaments, Catechifms, &c. catechifed them, and beftowed fmall pecuniary re wards on the moft apt fcholars. His labour, however, was loft, the books were foon exchanged for money, and the money spent in drinking; and Cruden difcontinued his practice, when he found it produced no better effects. A regard for the eternal welfare of his fellow-creatures was a predominant feature in his character. He was peculiarly elated when he had fucceeded in rescuing any poor creature from the barbarity of ignorance, or the practice of wickedness. Of this we have another inftance, but at what period it happened cannot now be remembered. Returning one Sunday evening from a place of worhip, he accidentally met with a man, whofe looks betrayed anxious forrow, melancholy, and, as Cruden imagined defpair. He immediately accofted the man, and drew from him a confeffion, that the extreme poverty of his family, and other caufes had driven him to the defperate refolution of committing fuicide. Mr. Cruden expoftulated with him, difplayed the wickednefs of his intention, and administered fuch friendly confolation, accompanied with pecuniary affiftance, and a promife of future fupport, that the poor man became chearful, refigned, and hopeful. In fuch a&t Mr. Cruden delighted. "At the time when the difputes between Mr. Wilkes and the government agitated the nation, Mr. Cruden wrote a fmall pamphlet against that gentleman, whom he never could hear named with patience. He teftified his averfion to him in a way peculair to himfelf, by effacing No. 45, wherever he found it chalked on doors or window-fhutters. His inftrument was a large piece of sponge, which he carried in his pocket, partly for this purpose, and partly that no words, offenfive |