At the college of Aberdeen Mr
Ruddiman pursued his studies with an ardour and devotion which daily
increased, and which at the end of four years procured him the degree of
master of arts. This honour, of which the young scholar was extremely proud,
was conferred on him on the 21st June, 1694. Amongst Mr Ruddiman’s fellow
students at this period was the well-known lord Lovat, whose earthly career
was terminated on Tower Hill by the axe of the executioner, at the distance
of more than half a century afterwards. Of this nobleman, the
biographer of Ruddiman remarks, that, when at college, "he was at the head
of every mischief."
On completing his academical
course, Mr Ruddiman was engaged by Mr Robert Young of Auldbar, in the county
of Forfar, to assist the studies of his son. He was still under twenty years
of age, but his acquirements in classical literature were far in advance of
this period of life, as compared with the ordinary progress of proficiency
in others. While advancing the knowledge of his pupil, Mr Ruddiman did not
permit his own to remain stationary. He continued to study assiduously, and
every day added to his acquirements in classic lore.
During his residence at
Auldbar, Mr Ruddiman heard of the death of the incumbent schoolmaster of
Lawrencekirk, in Kincardineshire, and thinking this a favourable opportunity
for advancing his fortunes, applied for, and obtained the situation, partly
through the interest of Mr Young, and partly through the influence of his
own reputation for extraordinary learning. In this situation, a sufficiently
obscure one, he remained, still applying himself with unabated zeal to the
study of the classics, till the year 1699, when a rather singular occurrence
opened up a wider field to his ambition and his merits.
The celebrated Dr Pitcairne
of Edinburgh, happening to be detained for a day in the village of
Lawrencekirk, by the inclemency of the weather, asked the hostess of the inn
where he put up, whether she could not find him some intelligent person who
would partake of his dinner, and help, by his conversation, to divert the
tedium of the evening. His landlady immediately suggested the schoolmaster,
Mr Ruddiman. He was accordingly sent for, and in the course of the
conversation which followed made so favourable an impression on the Doctor,
by the extent of his acquirements, and the judiciousness of his remarks,
that the latter, before they parted, invited him to come to Edinburgh, and
promised him his patronage.
Mr Ruddiman gratefully closed
with the proposal, and repaired to the metropolis in the beginning of the
year 1700. On his arrival, his patron procured him employment in the
Advocates’ library as a sort of assistant librarian, though for upwards of a
year he had no regular or formal engagement in that capacity. During this
interval he employed himself in arranging books, copying papers, and making
extracts from interesting works. In 1701, Mr Ruddiman married Barbara
Scollay, the daughter of a gentleman of small estate in Orkney, and in the
year following, he was formally admitted, on the 2nd of May, assistant
librarian, with a salary of £8, 6s. 8d. sterling per annum. His diligence,
learning, and steadiness of character, had already attracted the notice, and
called forth the approbation of his employers, who, as a token of their
sense of these merits, presented him with an extra allowance of fifty pounds
Scots, at the end of the year succeeding that of his appointment. Mr
Ruddiman now set himself seriously and earnestly to the task of improving
his circumstances by literary industry and diligence, and the situation he
was in eminently favoured such a design. He copied chronicles and
chartularies for the Glasgow university, which gave him constant and regular
employment in this way. He formed connexions with booksellers, and revised,
corrected, and added to the works which they were publishing, particularly
those of a learned character, and to all this he added the expedient of
keeping boarders, whom he also instructed in classical learning. The first
work to which he is known to have lent his assistance was Sir Robert
Sibbald’s "lntroductio ad Historiam rerum a Romanis gestarum in ea Boreali
Britanniae parte quae ultra Murum Picticum est." He was next employed to
revise "The Practiques of the Laws of Scotland," by Sir Robert Spottiswood,
for which he received £5 sterling. Mr Ruddiman’s active mind, and laudable
desire of independence, suggested to him still another means of increasing
his emoluments. This was to commence book auctioneer, a calling for which
his habits and pursuits peculiarly qualified him, and he accordingly added
it, in the year 1707, to his other avocations, but confined himself, in the
exercise of it, principally to learned works and school books.
In the same year in which he
commenced auctioneer, he published an edition of Wilson’s "Animi
Tranquillitate Dialogus." To this work he added a new preface, and subjoined
a sketch of the life of Wilson, besides correcting the numerous
typographical errors of Gryphius of Leyden, by whom it was first published
in 1543. His extraordinary and unwearying diligence enabled Mr Ruddiman to
present the world in 1709, with a new edition, with notes, of another
learned work. This was "Johnstoni Cantici Solomonis Paraphrasis Poetica,"
which he dedicated, in a copy of verses, to his patron Dr Pitcairne, a
compliment which the latter acknowledged by presenting the learned editor
with a silver cup, inscribed with the following couplet from Horace:
Narratur et prisci Catonis,
Saepe mero incaluisse virtus.
Mr Ruddiman, however, was not
permitted long to rejoice in the possession of this elegant testimony of his
patron’s esteem for him. His house was shortly after broken into by robbers,
and the silver cup, with many other articles carried off.
The reputation which the
learned and acute grammarian had acquired by the new editions of the works
just named, was still farther increased by that in which he next engaged.
This was an edition of Virgil’s AEneid, as translated into Scottish verse by
the celebrated Gawin Douglas. To this work, which was published by Freebairn
of Edinburgh, besides superintending and correcting the press, he
contributed a Glossary, explaining difficult and obsolete words; a
performance which bespeaks great depth of research, soundness of judgment,
and singular acuteness of perception. Mr Ruddiman’s modesty, (for he was as
modest as learned,) prevented him from associating with the Glossary any
kind of notice which should point out to the public that he was the author
of it but after some time this fact transpired, and compliments poured in
upon him from the most eminent and learned men of the day.
A vacancy happening to occur
about this period in the grammar school of Dundee, Mr Ruddiman, whose fame
as a scholar was now rapidly spreading abroad, was invited to become rector
of that seminary; but an advance of salary having been tendered him by the
faculty of advocates to induce him to remain, he accepted it, and declined
the offer of the magistrates of Dundee, although he thereby sacrificed his
pecuniary interests to a considerable amount, for the additional salary
which was conferred upon him was still short of the amount of emolument
which the rectorship of the Dundee grammar school would have produced to
him.
Still pursuing his literary
labours with unremitting industry, he, in 1711, assisted in preparing a new
edition of the works of Drummond of Hawthornden, printed by Watson of
Edinburgh, and immediately after lent his aid to Abercromby, to publish his
"Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation." Mr Ruddiman next devoted himself
to philological pursuits; and in 1713, published a new edition of the Latin
Vocabulary of John Forrest, with improvements. In the year following,
he published that work which filled up the measure of his fame. This was his
"Rudiments of the Latin Tongue;" a work which he lived to see go through no
less than fifteen editions. It is almost unnecessary to add, that it
immediately supplanted all those of a similar kind which had been previously
in use, every one of which was singularly defective; and that it has
remained in extensive use throughout the grammar schools of Scotland ever
since.
Shortly after this, Mr
Ruddiman was employed by Freebairn to edit "Buchanani Opera Omnia," now
collected for the first time. To this work, which was published in 1715, in
two vols. folio, he contributed large annotations, in which he treated
freely both the character and political principles of the author; a
procedure which raised him a host of enemies, and involved him in a
litigated and annoying controversy. This hostility assumed in one instance
the formidable shape of a "Society of the Scholars of Edinburgh, to
vindicate that incomparably learned and pious Author (Buchanan) from the
Calumnie of Mr Thomas Ruddiman." This association, however, though it
included no less than four professors of the university, never made any
progress in their proposed "Vindication," and finally dissolved, without
accomplishing any thing, although they frequently and confidently promised
the world a new edition of Buchanan, with a confutation of Ruddiman.
In 1715, Mr Ruddiman added to
his other avocations that of printer, admitting a younger brother of his
own, who had been bred to the business, as a partner of the concern. The
first production of his press, was the second volume of Abercromby’s Martial
Achievements. Amongst the learned works of note, which he printed
subsequently, were, the first volume of "Epistolae Regum Scotorum," 1722,
for which he wrote a preface; "Ovidii Excerpta ex Metamorphoseon Libris,"
containing English Notes, by Willymot and himself, 1723; Herodian, 1724;
Pars Prima of his own Grammaticae Latinae Institutiones, 1725, which brought
him a great accession of fame and profit; and Pars Secunda of the same work.
He also printed, in 1733, "A Dissertation upon the Way of Teaching the Latin
Tongue."
In 1718, Mr Ruddiman took an
active part in forming a literary society—the first, it is believed, which
was established in Edinburgh. It was originally composed of the masters of
the high school, but was soon joined by many of the most eminent persons in
the city; amongst these was Mr Henry Home, afterwards lord Kames. Of the
proceedings of this society, however, nothing is known, as its records, if
there ever were any, have all disappeared.
It had long been an object of
Mr Ruddiman’s ambition, after he became a printer, to obtain the appointment
of printer to the university, and he was at length gratified with the
office. In 1728, he was nominated, conjunctly with James Davidson, printer
to the college, during the lives of both, (so their patent ran,) and during
the life of the longest liver. Previously to this, viz., in 1724, Mr
Ruddiman began to print the continuation of the Caledonian Mercury for
Rolland, who was then its proprietor; but in 1729, he acquired the whole
interest in that paper, which was transferred to him in March of the year
just named, and continued in his family till 1772, when it was sold by the
trustees of his grandchildren.
Notwithstanding the variety
and importance of his numerous avocations, Mr Ruddiman still retained the
appointment of assistant-librarian in the Advocates’ library, and never
allowed any of these avocations to interfere, in the smallest degree, with
the faithful and diligent discharge of the duties of that office. He was
still, however, up to the year 1730, but assistant-librarian, the situation
of principal keeper being in the possession of Mr John Spottiswood; but in
the year named, his long and faithful services in the library were rewarded
by the chief appointment, on the death of Mr Spottiswood. In Mr Ruddiman’s
case, however, this promotion was entirely honorary, for it was
unaccompanied by any additional salary.
Mr Ruddiman’s reputation as a
Latinist now stood so high, that he was employed to translate public papers.
Amongst these, he translated the charter of the Royal Bank from English into
Latin, before the seals were affixed to it; and also the city of Edinburgh’s
"Charter of Admiralty." His wealth, in the mean time, was improving apace.
All his undertakings succeeded with him, and his diligence and economy
turned them to the best account. He was in the habit of making periodical
estimates of his riches, which he entered in his memorandum books. These
show a gradual increase in his wealth, and discover that it had amounted in
1736 to £1985 6s. 3d.
Amongst the last of his
literary labours, was an elaborate preface, or rather introduction, to
Anderson’s "Selectus Diplomatum et Numismatum Scotiae Thesaurus;" an able
and learned disquisition on various subjects of antiquity. Being now in the
sixty-fifth year of his age, he ceased, for a time, after the completion of
the work just spoken of from every kind of literary employment; and, nearly
at the same period, resigned his half of the printing concern to his son,
allowing, however, his name to remain in the firm, in order to continue its
credit.
During the summer of 1745, Mr
Ruddiman, to avoid the dangers of the rebellion, retired to the country,
where he resided for several months, amusing himself by literary pursuits.
He afterwards prepared a Pars Tertia to his Grammaticae Latinae, &c., but
did not adventure on its publication, as he feared the sale would not pay
the expense. He subsequently, however, published an abstract of this work,
subjoined to what is called his Shorter Grammar, of which he received, in
1756, the royal privilege of being exclusive printer. In 1751, the venerable
grammarian’s sight began to fail him, and, under this affliction, finding
that he could no longer conscientiously retain the appointment of keeper of
the Advocates’ library, he resigned it early in the year 1752, after a
faithful discharge of the duties of librarian in that institution of nearly
half a century. The latter years of Mr Ruddiman’s life were imbittered by a
political controversy, into which he was dragged by the vanity and
pertinacity of Mr George Logan, who persecuted him with unrelenting
virulence in no less than six different treatises, which he wrote against
the political principles avowed in Mr Ruddiman’s Annotations on Buchanan,
particularly that which asserted the hereditary rights of the Scottish
kings. Mr Ruddiman died at Edinburgh on the 19th of January, 1757, in the
eighty-third year of his age; and his remains were interred in the
Greyfriars’ church-yard of that city. A handsome tablet to the memory of
Ruddiman, was erected in 1806, in the New Greyfriars’ church, at the expense
of his relative, Dr William Ruddiman, late of India. It exhibits the
following inscription:--
SACRED TO THE MEMORY
OF THAT CELEBRATED
SCHOLAR AND WORTHY MAN,
THOMAS RUDDIMAN, A. M.,
KEEPER OF THE
ADVOCATES’ LIBRARY NEAR FIFTY YEARS.
Born, October, 1674, within three miles
of the town of Banff;
Died at Edinburgh, 19th January, 1757,
In his eighty-third year.
Post obitum, benefacta manent,
aeternaque virtus,
Non metuit Stygiis ne rapiatur aquis.
The Life of
Thomas Ruddiman, A.M.
The Keeper for almost fifty years of the Library belonging to the Faculty of
Advocates at Edinburgh to which is subjoined new anecdotes of Buchanan by
George Chalmers (1794) (pdf)