INTRODUCTION. EW materials exist for a Life of WILLIAM known the public has long been familiar, both by the biography prefixed to the folio edition of his works by Bishop Sage, and the more recent, yet scarcely more novel sketches that have from time to time appeared in the various compilations devoted to the memories of our more distinguished countrymen. What little else can be derived from his autograph Adversaria, preserved in the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, has been carefully culled by the minute accuracy of Mr. Laing, illustrative of his extracts from them in the Transactions of that body, subsequently referred to. From the like source the same gentleman has, with equal felicity, prepared for the Shakespeare Society that very interesting volume of the series of its publications which records the Conversations of our poet with his friend and admirer-Benjamin Jonson. Descended lineally from one of the most ancient families in Scotland, of which the elder branch had been matrimonially linked with the throne of that kingdom, the father of the poet is found, very naturally, the possessor of wealth and honour flowing from the Crown. The second son of Sir Robert Drummond of Carnock, John— who acquired the estate, and founded the family of Hawthornden-was, in 1590, appointed Gentleman Usher to James VI; and, on his sovereign's accession to the English sceptre, received from him the rank of knighthood. He married Susannah Fowler, daughter of a respectable burgess of Edinburgh, who subsequently had also the accolade, and served as Secretary to Queen Anne ; and by her he had a family of four sons and three daughters, of which issue William was the eldest. The outline of his life may be concisely drawn. Born on the 13th of December, 1585, and educated at the High School of Edinburgh, Drummond took his degree of M.A. at the University of that city on the 27th of July, 1605. On leaving college, he was sent to study civil law at Bruges, and he appears to have resided in France for nearly three years. But the Muses, rather than Themis, were the objects of his devotion; and after his return to Scotland in 1609, the death of his father in the following year enabled him to retire to that family seat which his name has rendered classic ground, for the express purpose of indulging in his favourite pursuits. Hither, some nine years later, to visit him in his umbra geous retreat, came "rare" Ben Jonson; and the sentiments which prompted this distant pedestrian tour expanded into a mutual admiration and attachment, which form one of the most interesting episodes in the literary history of the seventeenth century. In this his studious retirement he became enamoured of Mary Cunningham, daughter of the laird of Barns; the nuptial day was fixed, but ere it arrived a fever carried off the mistress of his heart. Towards alleviating in some measure the severity of this affliction, Drummond had recourse to travelling on the Continent, which occupied him for several years subsequent to 1623, and enabled him to make the acquaintance of many of the most learned men in France, Italy, and Germany. Shortly after his return he married, in 1632, Elizabeth Logan, a person of humble extraction-being, according to Father Hay, the daughter of a minister by one whose sire was a shepherd. She bore to him five sons and four daughters. After the commencement of the civil war, Drummond resided for some time with his brother-in-law, Sir John Scot, of Scotstarvet, author of The Staggering State of Scots Statesmen, during which he composed his History of Scotland from 1423 to 1542, and various political tracts on the side of the royal cause. He died, 4th December 1649, in his 64th year. His health had been for some time declining; and although his death may not have been the result of excessive grief for the fate of his |