away the object, in which all his affections seem to have concentered; and had well nigh completed the prostration of a mind, which appears to have been more than sufficiently prone, by nature, to melancholy and dejection. He sought relief by travelling abroad. He passed through Germany, France, and Italy; visited the most celebrated foreign universities; and though, after an absence of eight years, spent chiefly in Rome and Paris, he returned somewhat relieved of his despondency, it was only to be plunged into new difficulties of a political and religious nature. King James himself was a Drummond. Our poet, therefore, became enthusiastically attached to the cause of his house; and, as his 'cloak and cincture' were hardly sufficient 'to keep out the storm,' he retired to the seat of his brother-in-law, Sir John Scott, of Scotstraval, in Fifeshire. It was here, as is supposed, that he wrote the History of the Five Jameses, and the macaronic poem of PolemoMiddinia. According to the writer of his life, published in 1711, he presented to the University of Edinburgh a valuable collection of rare books and manuscripts, which he procured in his foreign travels; and of which a catalogue was printed in 1627, with a preface in ornate Latin, written by himself, about the advantage and honour of libraries.' In 1630, he married Elizabeth, grand-daughter of Sir Robert Logan, of Rastelrig; who led him captive in his fortieth year, in consequence of the likeness she bore to his former mistress. When Charles I. came to Edinburgh, in 1633, Drummond wrote the speeches of the allegorical characters, who performed the Regeant; and, though he never took arms in the cause of that unfortunate prince, he was ever ready to afford him the aid of his pen. His 'verses and discourses,' against the Covenanters, made him an object of persecution; and he was frequently summoned, as a malignant, before the 'circular ta bles' of the prevailing party. But what most galled him, was, that they obliged him to assist in raising forces against the very king, whose cause he had so warmly espoused; and, the situation of his estate in three different shires making him liable only for the half or quarter of a man in each, he wrote to his majesty the following impromptu on the subject: Of all these forces raised against the king, 'Tis my strange hap not one whole man to bring But all in halves and quarters. Great King, then, In spite of all his verses, however, the church and monarchy were at length cast down; and, although, according to one biographer, he foretold the result at the beginning of the troubles, the same person tells us, that it had an evident effect in abridging his days. He died on the 4th of December, 1649; and was buried in his own aisle of the church of Lasswade. He had lived, since his marriage, at his paternal seat of Hawthorndon; which, as late as 1795, was still possessed by a representative of the family. The poetry of Drummond is not characterized by any thing strikingly original or peculiar; and, when we mention him as a follower of Petrarch, we have said enough, perhaps, to give the reader an idea of his performances. Like Petrarch, he sonnetted his mistress, both before and after death; and, like Petrarch, he too frequently seems to be more intent upon the sonnet than the subject. Perhaps he has less affectation, however, than any other follower of the Italian school; and, though his poems sufficiently indicate the elaboration which produced them, they are, after all, more like epigrams than conceits. Gray's elegy upon the death of West is an imitation of Drummond's ode to Spring; and the following parallel lines will show how attentively his writings were perused by Pope. The grief was common, common were the cries. The crime was common, common be the pain. To virgins, flowers, to sun-burnt earth, the rain, Not bubbling fountains to the thirsty swain, Drum. Pope. Drum. Pope. Drummond was also a favourite of Milton; and, in the subjoined specimens from each poet, the resemblance will speak for itself. The sun is fair when he with crimson crown, When clouds engemm'd, show azure, green, and red. Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet, Drum. His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, Milton. |