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WEDDERBURN, DAVID, a poet of
considerable eminence, was born probably about the year 1570. Neither the
place of his birth nor his parentage has been ascertained. Of the latter all
that is known is that his mother was buried in St Nicholas church at
Aberdeen in 1635. [Kirk and Bridge Work Accounts of Aberdeen, 1634-1635.] It
is highly probable from various circumstances that Wedderburn was educated
in the city just named, and that he studied either in King’s, or in the
newer institution, Marischal college.
In 1602, a vacancy occurred
in the grammar-school of Aberdeen, by the death of Thomas Cargill, a
grammarian of great reputation, and author of a treatise on the Gowrie
conspiracy, now apparently lost. After an examination which lasted four days
and extended to "oratorie, poesie, and compositioun in prois and verss,"
Wedderburn and Mr Thomas Reid, afterwards the well-known Latin secretary to
James VI., were appointed "co-equall and conjunct masters" of the
institution, with salaries of £40 yearly, and the quarterly fees of the
scholars limited to ten shillings. They were inducted into this office by
"delivery to thame of ane grammar buke." [Council Register of Aberdeen, xi.
409, 410.] Early in 1603, Wedderburn appeared before the town
council, and stated, that being "urgit and burdenit be the lait provinciall
assemblie of ministers, hauldin at this burghe, to accept upon him the
function of ane minister of Goddis word, he wes resolvit to enter in the
said function and obey God, calling him thairto be the said assemblie, and
to leave and desert the said schooll," and concluded by craving leave to
demit his office. This the council granted, and accompanied it with a
testimonial of his faithful discharge of his duty; but, from what cause is
now unknown, Wedderburn in the same year resumed his office. Before he had
retained it twelve months, a complaint was lodged against him for making
exorbitant claims on the scholars for fees, charity on Sundays, "candle and
bent siller." These exactions were repressed by the magistrates, and in
1619, the quarterly fees were advanced from ten shillings to thirteen
shillings and fourpence. Several years before this, in 1612, his scholars
distinguished themselves by an act of mutiny of the boldest nature. In
conjunction with the other scholars of the town, they took possession of the
Song or Music school, and fortified themselves within it. Being armed with
guns, hagbuts, and pistols, they boldly sallied forth as occasion required,
and, attacking the houses of the citizens, broke open the doors and windows,
"and maisterfullie away took their foullis, pultrie, breid, and vivaris."
They also intercepted the supplies of fuel and provisions intended for the
city markets, and continued in this state of open insurrection for two days,
when they submitted to the authority of the magistrates, who punished the
ringleaders by imprisonment, and banished twenty-one of their associates
from all the city schools. [Council Register of Aberdeen, xiv. 858.]
In 1614, on the death of Gilbert Gray,
principal of Marieshal college, Wedderburn was appointed to teach "the high
class" of the university, probably meaning the class then usually taught by
the principal. In 1617, appeared the first of his publications, two poems on
the king’s visit to Scotland in that year, the one entitled, "Syneuphranterion
in reditu Regis in Scotiam, 1617," and the other "Propempticon Caritatum
Abredonensium." Both these poems (along with five others by the author,)
were reprinted in the " Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum," and the last of these,
composed at the request of the magistrates, procured him a donation of fifty
merks. In 1619, he was appointed to teach a lesson in humanity once a-week
to the students of Marischal college, from such authors as the magistrates
might select, and also to compose in Latin, both in prose and verse, an
essay on the common affairs of the city. For this he was to receive a salary
of eighty merks per annum. In 1625, he wrote a poem on the death of James
VI., which was printed at Aberdeen by Edward Raban, under the title of "Abredonia
Atrata sub Obitum Serenissimi et Potentissimi Monarchae Jacobi VI.,
Abredoniae, 1625," 4to, pp. 12. This was dedicated "Ad Amplissimos Curiae
Abredonensis Primatus," and is now so rare as to be priced at two guineas.
In 1630, he completed the writing of a new grammar for the use of his
pupils, and received from the magistrates a reward of £100 Scots. It was
found, however, that this work could "neither be prentit nor publisht for
the use of young schollaris, whome the same concernis, unto the tyme the
same resaive approbatioune frome the lordis of counsall."
In consequence of this, the magistrates "thocht
meit and expede, that the said Mr David address himself with the said wark
to Edinburgh, in all convenient diligence, for procuring the saidis lordis
thair approbatioun thairto, and ordanis the soume of ane hundreth pundis moe
to be debursit to him be the tounis thesaurar for making of his expenss in
the sudeward." [Council Register, vol. 52. p. 8.] It is unknown
whether Wedderburn succeeded in procuring the license of the privy council;
but if published no copy of this "gramer newly reformed" seems to have been
preserved. In 1635, Wedderburn lost a friend and patron in the learned
Patrick Forbes of Corse, bishop of Aberdeen; and among the many
distinguished contributors to that prelate’s "Funerals" we find the name of
"David Wedderburnus Latinae Scholae in Urbe Nova Abredoniae Praefectus." In
1640, he was so borne down by bodily infirmity that he was allowed to retire
from the rectorship of the grammar-school on a pension of two hundred merks
annually. The succeeding year he was called on to mourn the death of the
celebrated Arthur Johnston, with whom he had lived in the closest
friendship. One of the most beautiful of Johnston’s minor poems was
addressed "Ad Davidam Wedderburnum, amicum veterem," and drew forth a reply
from Wedderburn of equal elegance.
On the death of this valued
friend, Wedderburn published six elegies, under the title of "Sub obitum
viri clarissimi et carissimi D. Arcturi Jonstoni, Medici Regli, Davidis
Wedderburni Suspiria-Abredoniae, 1641." This tract has since been reprinted
by Lauder in his "Poetarum Scotorum Musae Sacrae," Edinburgh, 1731. Two
years after the publication of his "Suspiria" he published, at Aberdeen, "Meditationum
Campestrium, seu Epigrammatum Moralium, Centuriae duae," and in the
following year, 1644, appeared "Centuria tertia." Both these works are from
the press of Edward Raban, and are of great rarity. It is probable that they
were the last compositions of their author which were printed in his
lifetime, if we except some commendatory verses to a treatise "De Arte
conservando sanitatem," published at Aberdeen in 1651. Though the precise
year of Wedderburn’s death has escaped our researches, it may be fixed
within a few years from this last date. In 1664, his brother, Alexander,
gave to the world "Persius Enucleatus, sive Commentarius exactissimus et
maxime perspicuus in Persium, Poetarum omnium difficillimum, studio Davidis
Wedderburni, Scoti Abredonensis—opus Posthumum; Amstelodami," 12mo. Besides
the works now enumerated, Wedderburn was the author of a great number of
commendatory poems and elegiac verses. His learning has been celebrated by
Vossius, who styles him "homo eruditissimus beneque promovens de studiis
juventutis." His reputation is attested by the terms on which he lived with
many of the most eminent persons of his time. His intimacy with Arthur
Johnston and, bishop Patrick Forbes, has been already mentioned; the well
known secretary Reid was his coadjutor; and he counted among his friends
Jameson the painter, William Forbes, bishop of Edinburgh, Gilbertus
Jacobaeus, Duncan Liddel, baron Dun, Ramsay, Ross, and many other
illustrious individuals. His poems show in every line an intimate
acquaintance with the classic writers, and are filled with happy allusions
to ancient history and fable. His verses, indeed, are more to be admired for
their learning than for their feeling; he has nowhere succeeded in reaching
the highest flights of poetry, and has frequently sunk into common-place and
bathos. But it is impossible to withhold admiration from the ease and
elegance of his latinity, the epigrammatic vivacity of his style, or the
riches of classical lore with which he has adorned his pages. |
