ALEXANDER, a celebrated critic and civilian, was the son of John Cunningham, minister of Cumnock, in Ayrshire, and the owner of a small estate named Block, in the same county. He was The time of his birth and the place of his education have not hitherto been ascertained. The earliest employment in which we find him engaged was that of tutor to Lord George Douglas, who was a younger son of the first duke of Queensberry, and died in the year 1693. It was probably through the influence of this noble family that he was appointed professor of the civil law in the university of Edinburgh. In 1698 the Scottish parliament voted a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling to Alexander Cunningham, as professor of the civil law, "nominat et designat ad illud professionem." The act was to continue in force during the period of five years; and the same provision in his favour was, for the same period, renewed in 1704. On the 18th of October 1710, the magistrates of Edinburgh, without recognizing any former appointment, nominated James Craig professor of the civil law. He was a descendant of the famous Sir Thomas Craig, and is said to have filled his situation in a manner not unworthy of his ancestor. The city magistrates, regarding themselves as the proper patrons of the university, have always entertained the greatest jealousy of any interference on the part of the crown; and as Cunningham must have held a royal professorship, they would studiously decline to recognize his appointment. The payment of his salary must have ceased at the expiration of the second term of five years, that is, in 1709; and it was in the course of the ensuing year that the magistrates established another chair; nor is it superfluous to mention that this new foundation took place after the death of the duke of Queensberry, who had acted as her majesty's commissioner at the important crisis of the union.
So early as the year 1590, the judges, the magistrates, and the advocates and clerks to the signet, had raised a fund of L3000 for the endowment of a professorship of law in the university of Edinburgh; each of these three parties contributing an equal portion. Adam Newton, an advocate, was first appointed to the office; but having neglected to obtain the approbation of the magistrates, he was dismissed in the year 1594. He afterwards procured better employment, and successively became tutor and secretary to Prince Henry. In the professorship he was succeeded by Hadrian Damman of Bisterveld, who was born in the neighbourhood of Ghent, and there was for some time employed in teaching the classics; he retained the chair for a few years, and was afterwards resident of the States-General at the court of Scotland. In the year 1597, after his resignation, the interest of one third of the sum formerly contributed was allotted for a professor of humanity, and the interest of the remainder for the maintenance of six exhibitioners. Newton and Damman had both taught humanity, without reading any public lectures on law. After the more recent foundation of a law-professorship, the resort of Scottish students to the foreign universities became somewhat less frequent, but the practice was never entirely discontinued; and of the present race of lawyers, several have studied at Leyden, Utrecht, and Göttingen.
It is highly probable that Cunningham had completed his academical course at Leyden or Utrecht. He had equally devoted his attention to the studies of philology and the civil law, which at that period were not very vigorously cultivated in his native country; and he at length fixed his residence in Holland, where those studies were prosecuted with uncommon ardour and success. A late writer has erroneously described him as an advocate; in the records of the faculty for that period, we find no advocate of the same name. He now settled at the Hague, where he appears to have resided during the remainder of his life; but we can discover no evidence of his having there taught "both the civil and canon laws." He apparently lived in Holland as a private gentleman, sup-
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1 Inquisitionum Abbreviatio, vol. i. Art. 612. 2 Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. x. p. 176. vol. xi. p. 203. 3 Wood's Peerage of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 390. 4 Register of the Town Council, vol. xxxix. p. 94. 5 Tytler's Account of the Life and Writings of Sir Thomas Craig, p. 321. 6 Adam Newton was the son of a baker in Edinburgh. Though a layman, he held the deanery of Durham from 1606 to 1629, when he resigned it; and during the latter year he was created a baronet. He translated into Latin King James's treatise against Varieties, and the first six books of Paolo Sarpi's history of the council of Trent. The last two books were translated by Dr Bedell (Bird's Life of Prince Henry, p. 14. 216. Lond. 1760, 8vo.). "Sic se gestit," says Dempster, "ut moderatione summa cum maximum locum habuisset, majorem mereri consenseret." (Hist. Ecclesiast. Gentis Scotorum, p. 565.) 7 Sanderus de Galanis, De Eruditionis Fama claris, p. 3. Antwerp. 1624, 4to. 8 Andreas Bibliotheca Belgica, p. 9. edit. Lovan. 1643, 4to. 9 According to these writers, Damman was invited to Scotland by Buchanan. In this country he appears to have acquired an estate; for in his metrical poem De Rebus, he describes himself as Dominus de Fairchild. He married Margaret, a granddaughter of John Stewart, earl of Buchan, but she left no issue. (Wood's Peerage, vol. i. p. 268.) The literary historians of Flanders mention some of his poems as having been printed on the continent; and after his settlement in Scotland, he published the following works: Schediasmata. Edinb. 1590, 4to. Barbazia seu de Mundo Creatione libri septem; e Guillelmi Salustii Dn. de Bartas Septimana, poema Francico, liberis tralati, et multa in locis aucta. Edinb. 1600, 8vo. Both these volumes were printed by Waldegrave. The first of them contains one Greek and six Latin poems, all relating to the royal nuptials, and the reception and coronation of the queen. 10 Crawford's Hist. of the University of Edinburgh, p. 34. 40. 11 A letter of Jacobus Gronovius, dated at Leyden on the 9th of May 1687, contains the following passage: "Cunninghamus ubi hanc urbem ex hac urbe disceret, nullo labore potui erigere, nisi quod populares quidam ejus dicit Germanicum iter ab eo suscepsit, non aliquic fixisse mansionem: unde tuas ad eum literas etiamnum detineo." (Clarorum Belgorum ad Ant. Magistri bechium Epistolae, tom. ii. p. 163. Florent. 1745, 2 tom. 8vo.) As we have other evidence of the civilian's acquaintance with Gronovius, we suppose him to be the individual here mentioned. ported by the rent of his estate, and probably by an annuity from the noble family with which he had been connected. From a notice which occurs in a work of Best, published in the year 1707, it may perhaps be inferred that he was then residing in that country; and a letter of Cuper, dated on the 12th of November 1709, mentions him as having been residing at the Hague.
His edition of Horace made its appearance in the year 1721, but long before that period he enjoyed a very high reputation as a classical scholar. His notes are brief, and relate to the various readings; but he announced his intention of preparing another edition, illustrated with more copious annotations; and at the same time he published a separate volume, consisting of animadversions on the notes and emendations of Bentley, whose edition of Horace had been printed ten years before. To this volume, which displays much learning and sagacity, and evinces the author to have studied the art of criticism with uncommon assiduity and success, he has prefixed an address to Dr Bentley, whom he everywhere treats with much freedom, and even severity. Bentley was a man of great vigour of intellect, and of erudition not less accurate than extensive; of the Greek language he possessed a masterly knowledge; and he had studied the ancient metres with a degree of nicety unknown to former critics. His principal defect seems to have been a want of taste; for when he quits the mechanism and analogy of language, and the mere structure of verse, he cannot be regarded as a very safe guide in subjects of polite literature. His conjectural emendations, particularly of the Greek poets, often display singular felicity; but on some occasions they are chiefly remarkable for their audacity. Many of his rash conjectures on Horace are very successfully exposed by Cunningham. One of the emendations on which he seems to congratulate himself with most complacency, is the substitution of ter natos in the subsequent verse of the Art of Poetry:
Et male ternatos incidi reddere versus.
A reading more repugnant to every principle of taste could not easily have been devised; and yet his learned correspondent Gravius speaks of it in the following terms: "Eam qui videt et non probat, est in his litteris cæcior est quavis talpa. Quid enim toro cum incide?" Bentley professes to be offended with the incongruity of Horace's metaphor, and he asks the same question with Gravius; but he perceives no incongruity in an animal being produced at three births, and being moreover hammered upon an anvil. Cunningham, who was fully aware of this absurdity, has unnecessarily adopted the reading formatos, which appears somewhat flat. There is in reality no occasion for any change: when an artist has turned a piece of iron without being able to give it the shape or polish which he intended, he very naturally brings it back to the anvil, and a second time prepares it for the lathe. The Cunningham metaphor therefore which occurs in this passage, is at once consistent and expressive. The vanity and arrogance with which Bentley exercised his critical functions, are likewise exposed by this formidable antagonist. Cunningham appears to have been the friend of Le Clerc, and on that account he may have pointed his animadversions with more keenness.
Cunningham's animadversions excited no ordinary degree of attention, and he was acknowledged to be the most able of Bentley's critical antagonists. Jani, a recent editor of the odes of Horace, speaks of him in the following terms: "Omnium doctissime in hoc castigando versatus est Alexander Cunninghamius, vir summus et doctissimus, unus omnium qui in Horatium scripsisset critorum principes, ipsique Bentley, si quid intelligo, anteferendus... Emendationes autem ejus fatendum est omnium doctissimae esse ac ingeniosissimae, saepe, si ad leges artis criticæ executantur, pro unice veris lectibus habendas. Sæpius tamen non minor in lis, quam in Bentleianis, audacia est, sed illa melior protecta aliorum indocta modestia." This estimate differs very widely from that of Wakefield, who styles Cunningham "ille criticus illaudabilis," and repeatedly honours him with some of the peculiar graces of his elocution. Of his own character as a critic, the greatest of living scholars has pronounced no very favourable opinion. Klotz remarks that Sumadon has pilfered much from both Bentley and Cunningham.
The Scottish critic appears to have been intimately connected with most of the eminent scholars and civilians who then flourished in Holland. In France he had several learned correspondents; and from a passage in his animadversions, it may be inferred that he was acquainted with Addison. Duker and various other critics mention him in friendly terms. When Otto published his great collection of tracts on the civil law, he professed to have been chiefly indebted to Bynkershoek, Cunningham, and Brenkman. "Post virum illum primarium, alios quoque recolere juvât, qui re et judicia suo hac epus instruerunt. Hos inter haud postremum locum obtinent Alexander Cunninghamius, et Henricus Brenkmanus, viri clarissimi, et optima fide de republica literaria pariter ac jurisprudentiae merentes, qui repetitis deliberationibus ad delictum librorum institutis, adhaerent, dignoscere cauti quid solidum crepet."
The chief labour of Cunningham's life was a critical edition of the Pandects, which however he did not live to publish. Of this long-meditated edition great expectations were formed. In a letter addressed to Cuper in the year 1709, Leibnitz, having mentioned his own project of remodelling the Pandects, expresses a wish to have his labours associated with those of Cunningham. "Nempe cuique auctoris libro sua redita sunt verba in Pandectis Justiniani relata. Tantum jam reliquum est, ut edantur hæc Redigesta, sed sine ali-
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1. Sed et insuper, says Best, "ne quid dubites, idem mihi adeveravit vir doctissimus Cunninghamius, natione Scotus, qui praecipue ingenii monumenta, quibus jurisprudentiam arduissime sibi devinxit, non diutius, ut speramus, eruditio orbis invisibilis, quem id ipsum serpens percutat didicisset ab accuratisissimo Jacobo Gronovio." (Ratio Emendandi Leges, p. 17. Ultraj. 1707, 8vo.) See likewise the preface to Wieling's Lexicon Juris Civilis libri duo, edit. Traj. ad Rhin. 1740, 8vo. 2. Lettres de Giobert Cuper, p. 233. Amst. 1742, 4to. 3. See the Bibliotheca Critica, vol. iii. part ii. p. 123. 4. Jani de Horatii Editionibus, p. xxxviii. See likewise his preface to the second volume. Gebauer has remarked of Cunningham, "sorbire criticos fuisse studiosissimum." (Narratio de Henrico Breuckmanno, p. 10. Gottingae, 1764, 4to.) 5. Wakefield ad Lucretium, lib. v. p. 205. 6. "In quo viru," says Hermann, "quum quantum ingenii, tantum effrenata temeritas, Graece autem linguae haud accuratior quam Latina esset sit, dabit ille aliquam sane, sed non eam auctoritatem habere, quam apud nostrates, nimis aquos exterorum judiciorum, contemnere est." (Pref. in Epistulis Heucbami, p. iv. Lipsiae, 1600, 8vo.) 7. Klarii Vindelicis, Q. Homann, 1708, 8vo. 8. Some of his letters to J. P. d'Orville may be found in the appendix to the second edition of Dr Irving's Memoirs of the Life and Writings of George Buchanan, p. 417. Edinb. 1817, 8vo. 9. Cunninghamii Animadversiones, p. 214. 10. Thesaurus Juris Romanii, tom. i. pref. 11. Dukeri pref. in Florum. Lugd. Bat. 1722, 8vo. Cunningham died in the year 1730. The auction of his library commenced on the 20th of November, and he may be supposed to have died some months before that period. His collection of books was very curious and valuable, particularly in the departments of philology and jurisprudence. The printed catalogue describes it as a most splendid library, and mentions that the greater part of the books were in gilt vellum or calf. His real and personal property descended to his nephew, the Rev. George Logan, A.M., afterwards one of the ministers of Edinburgh. The estate of Bute was at that time worth between fifty and sixty pounds a year, and may at present be worth five times as much. With respect to his papers, we find some information in a letter from Sir John Pringle to Forbes of Culloden.
"I wrote to Mr Logan of Dunbar, as I told you I would do, both in your name and mine, about his uncle Mr Cunningham's papers, and I have since had an evening's conversation with him; the sum of which was, that his uncle has not left one single scrape of any thing ready for the press, or even in any tolerable order. His notes on Horace are written on the margin of six volumes, whereof three are the text of Horace as he published it, and the other three are his animadversions on Bentley. The use of these I am promised again next week: the Lord have mercy on the patients till I have done with them! His notes on Phaedrus are likewise only on the margins of two editions of Phaedrus; but he thinks them fuller than the others, and is talking of giving them to Mr Ruddiman, if he will be at pains to put them in order and publish them. He has marginal notes upon several other authors, as Virgil, Statius, Quintilian, Cicero; any of which he offers to send me after I have done with Horace. His notes on the Corpus are larger than any of the rest, and not written on the margin, as the rest. His copy of the Corpus is interleaved with clean paper; so that there is a leaf of written notes for every printed leaf. He told me the Advocats Library has applied to him to have it, but he has given the curators no answer as yet, nor did he seem determined when he spoke to me.—What will surprise you most is, that he has left nothing of his scheme of the Christian religion. Mr Logan told me he had inquired at him about it when he was in his perfect senses, but that he declared to him that he had never put it in writing, and that he would dictate it to him any day, for he had it all in his head, and that it could be contained in four or five sheets of paper; however, every day that Logan pressed him to do it, he found always some reason for shifting it, till he was incapable of doing anything." This letter is dated at Edinburgh on the 13th of January 1731; and on the 2d of February, he writes thus: "I have got two Cunningham volumes of Horace, with Cunningham's marginal notes; but the hand is so bad, and the lines so close on one another, that I have difficulty to make sense of them, tho' I perceive no sigla, or secret marks, among them. However, I design to give true pains, and you will see probably the fruit of my labours when you return."
His speculations on the evidences of the Christian religion are mentioned in a letter from T. Burnet to Locke, dated at London on the 17th of March 1699. "I thought once of sending this packet with Mr Cunningham, who told me at my chambers some days ago he was to go out to you; but now, after waiting longer than his set time, I was resolved to delay no longer. I wish you would indulge him, before he leaves you, to piece together his proofs of the Christian religion, that the world may enjoy that light he hath so long promised."
What became of the papers mentioned by Pringle, we have not been able to ascertain. In the Advocates Library there are copies of Vinnius's first edition of the Institutes, and Best's Ratio Emendandi Leges, with manuscript notes ascribed to Cunningham: they were presented in the year 1768 by David Clerk, M.D., the son of another physician to be afterwards mentioned. The greater part of the notes was apparently written by some other person. We subjoin a list of the publications which bear Cunningham's name.
1. Alexandri Cumingamii Animadversiones in Richardi Bentley Notas et Emendationes ad Q. Horatium Flaccum. Hague Comitum, apud Thomam Jonsonium, 1721, 8vo.
2. Q. Horatii Flacci Poemata: ex antiquis codicis et certis observationibus emendavit, variaque scriptorum et impressorum lectiones adjectit Alexander Cunninghamius. Hague Comitum, apud Thomam Jonsonium, 1721, 8vo.
3. P. Virgilli Maronis Bucolica, Georgica, et Æneis ex recensione Alexandri Cumingamii Scotti, cujus emendationes subjiciuntur. Edinburgi, apud G. Hamilton et J. Balfour, 1743, 8vo.
4. Phædri Augusti Liberti Fabularum Æsopiarum libri quinque, ex emendatione Alexandri Cumingamii Scotti. Accedunt Publii Syri, et aliorum veterum Sententiae. Edinburgi, apud G. Hamilton et J. Balfour, Academie Typographos, 1757, 8vo.
Of this posthumous edition of Virgil, the preface was written by John Clerk, M.D., who is described as a physician of great learning and eminence, and of whom Dr Cullen has left an interesting account. He likewise published the edition of Phaedrus, which contains a preface by the editor, but is without annotations. Some of the conjectural emendations are considered by Schwabe too bold, and others as unnecessary. It appears from one of Drakenborch's letters to La Croze, that Cunningham had formed the design of attacking Bentley's edition of that poet, but finally abandoned it, lest he should interfere with a similar design of his friend Burman.
(D. L.)
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1 Lettres de Glisbert Cuper, p. 233. 2 Bibliotheca Cunningamii, continens selectissimos rarissimosque omni in lingua Libros: hos omnes multo judicio, vigilantia, ac labore collectis celeberrimus ac eruditissimus vir D. Alexander Cunningamius, Jurisconsultus et Polyhistor examinis. Lugd. Bat. 1730, 8vo. Pp. 139. 3 Culloden Papers, p. 120-1. Lond. 1815, 4to. 4 See Lord King's Life of John Locke, p. 403. Lond. 1829, 4to.—The writer of the letter, who speaks of his chambers like a lawyer, may perhaps Sir Thomas Burnet, a son of the bishop of Salisbury. 5 Ruddimannii Bibliotheca Romana, p. 10. Edinb. 1757, 8vo. 6 See Dr Thomson's Account of the Life, Lectures, and Writings of William Cullen, M.D. vol. i. p. 525. 7 Catalogue of the Library of the learned Dr John Clerk, Physician in Edinburgh, and of Dr David Clerk, his son, p. 72. Edinb. 1768, 8vo. 8 Notitia Litteraria de Phaedro, p. 104, prefixed to Schwabe's second edition. Brunsvigae, 1806, 2 tom. 8vo. 9 Thesauri Epistolici Lacroziarii tom. i. p. 124. Lipsiae, 1742-6, 3 tom. 4to.—One of the Cunninghams is mentioned in a letter from Colonel Codrington to Dr Charlott, written in June 1702. (Letters written by eminent Persons, vol. i. p. 133. Lond. 1813, 3 vols. 8vo.) The editor of Horace is said to have assisted in revising a French translation (Haye, 1726, 2 tom. 4to) of the first Cunningham, Alexander, the historian, has frequently been identified with the professor of the civil law, but it has at length been ascertained that they were different individuals. The father of the historian was Alexander Cunningham, minister of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire, and the owner of a small estate, named Hyndhope, and situated in the same county. The elder son, James, inherited this property, and left descendants. Alexander was educated at Selkirk school, and was originally destined for the church. According to one account, he prosecuted his academical studies in Holland; this account, which is sufficiently probable in itself, is contained in a communication from the late earl of Buchan to Dr Thomson. From a manuscript notice written by a descendant of his elder brother, we learn that, in the capacity of a travelling tutor, "he was employed both in the Argyle and Newcastle families;" that he afterwards studied the law of England, and was in great repute as a chamber-counsel, but never pleaded at the bar. He visited his brother at Hyndhope when Murray of Philiphaugh was sheriff of the county, but did not long remain in Scotland. His connexion with the Argyle family, as travelling tutor to Lord Lorne, was previously known from other sources of information. It was stated by the late earl of Hyndford that Cunningham travelled with his uncle and his father, James, afterwards earl of Hyndford, and the Hon. William Carmichael, afterwards solicitor-general for Scotland; that they passed two winters at Utrecht and Franeker, between the years 1692 and 1695, and subsequently travelled together for some time. "I have heard," says his lordship, "that the same Alexander Cunningham was afterwards tutor to an English nobleman, whose name is unknown to me." If we may rely on the notice already quoted, this young nobleman must have been connected with the Newcastle family. A letter from Cunningham to Carstares, dated at Bruges on the 20th of October 1697, contains the subsequent gleanings of information. "My Lord Argyle has not yet written anything concerning his son: he was gone from this place to his regiment before I came here, which I was glad of, for I know his L. colonel will take care of him... As for the project, I know you will not only use all your credit with Secretary Ogilvy, but will also recommend the thing to all the Scots nobility and gentry you shall meet with at London. I have bought in this country a considerable number of books, in order to the carrying of it on; and, so soon as I am free of my L. Lorne, I resolve to set seriously about it." Lord Lorne, though only about seventeen years of age, was now colonel of a regiment in Flanders. In the course of the following year, Dr Lister found Cunningham at Paris, and he makes an allusion to his having recently visited Rome. "I had a visit," he remarks, "from Mr Cunningham, tutor to my Lord Lorne, a very learned and curious man in books." I asked him (knowing him to have been lately at Rome) very particularly about the papers of Monsieur d'Azot. He told me that he saw him not half a year before he died, and was very intimately acquainted with him, and saw him for a twelvemonth very often. That he told him that he had about 80 difficult passages in Vitruvius, which he had commented and explained; and the correction of a great number of errata in the text. Also that upon Julius Frontinus (though that was a much less task) he had much more to say than he had upon Vitruvius."
From a passage in Cunningham's history, Dr Thomson had inferred that the author must have accompanied Lord Lorne to Rome; but from the context he was led to suppose that this occurrence must have taken place about the close of 1699 or the beginning of 1700.
In the year 1701, Cunningham was employed in a new capacity. He was sent to France by the king's authority: the ostensible object of his mission was to conduct a negociation respecting the trade between Scotland and France, but he is supposed to have supplied the king with important information of another kind. During the reign of George I. he was appointed minister to the state of Venice, and he retained his functions from 1715 to 1720. How long he survived, we have not hitherto been able to ascertain, but the earl of Hyndford is known to have visited him in London in the year 1735. He was married, and had four sons and a daughter. His eldest son, Robert, a barrister, died unmarried. Thomas married, and had a son and a daughter. Robert died in 1748, and Thomas in 1749; their uncle, James Cunningham of Hyndhope, attended the funerals of both; and at that of the latter he acted as chief mourner, the only son of the deceased being then a child. Alexander, the third son, was educated at Westminster school, and afterwards went to Leyden, where he died. Jane, the historian's only daughter, was married to Mr Clayton, brother to the mayor of Newcastle. It is sufficiently evident that the historian was a different person from Alexander Cunningham, who died on the 15th of May 1737, and was buried in the chancel of St Martin's church. By his testament, registered at Doctors Commons, the latter makes a provision for nephews and nieces, without any mention of his own descendants.
Long after the death of Cunningham, his Latin history came into the possession of Dr Hollingbery, archdeacon of Chichester, who describes the author as nearly connected with his family. The original has not been published; but a spirited translation, executed by William Thomson, LL.D., made its appearance, under the title of "The History of Great Britain, from the Revolution in 1688 to the Accession of George the First." Lond. 1787, 2 vols. 4to. It is certainly a curious circumstance that, at so barren a period of its literary annals, Scotland should have produced two learned writers of the same name and surname. The identity of their pursuits and accomplishments is striking.
Volume of Bishop Burnet's History of his own Time. See Journal des Savans, pour l'année 1726, p. 669. His reputation as a chess-player was not inferior to his reputation as a scholar. About the year 1700, Professor Wodrow played at chess "with Mr Alexander Cunningham of Blak, his old acquaintance. Mr Cunningham, after playing a game with him, said he thought he was able to give him a rook and a bishop of advantage, and his very utmost was queen, but he doubted that would be too much, which was a very commendation from him who is reckoned the best chess-player in Europe." (Wodrow's Life of James Wodrow, A.M., Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow, p. 174. Edinb. 1829, 12mo.)
All the particulars we state on the authority of a notice written by a well-known individual, the late Mr Alexander Cunningham, jeweller, in Edinburgh, who was himself descended from the historian's elder brother; and, in 1787, committed to writing, "from his father's information, the whole facts related by him, as they now stand; these he learnt when in London, from the widow of his grand-uncle." From the same source we derive our information respecting Cunningham's children.
Carstares's State-Papers and Letters, p. 390. Edinb. 1774, 4to.
Lister's Journey to Paris in the year 1698, p. 99, 2d edit. Lond. 1699, 8vo.
Cunningham's Hist. of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 233. Carstares's State-Papers, p. 709-10. See likewise Dr Thomson's Introduction, p. xiii.
About the same period, there was a third scholar of the name of Alexander Cunningham, who was professor of humanity in the university of Edinburgh. His testament was confirmed by the commissary court on the 26th of March 1697. He is the writer of a Latin poem, subjoined to a work entitled Grammatica Latina, authore Patricio Dykes Perthensi. Edinb. 1679, 8vo. Cunningham's history, "we shall find reason to pronounce it a just and legitimate composition, and perhaps to rank its author in the first class of our historians." Most readers will at least be disposed to admit that he was a man of learning and talents, and that he has made some important additions to the common stock of materials for the history of the eventful period to which his work relates. His decided attachment to the principles of the Whigs, will further recommend him to those who prefer the interest of the great body of the people to the interest of a particular family and particular classes.
Allan, a poet and miscellaneous writer, was born of comparatively humble parentage, at Blackwood, Dumfriesshire, in 1784. Entering life as apprentice to a stone mason, he early displayed a promise of poetical talent, and happening to be introduced to the engraver Cromek, the editor of the "Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song," he undertook the collection of ballads for the work. He sent to Cromek, as genuine remains, his own imitations of the ancient ballad literature. These form the bulk of Cromek's work. The cheat was long unsuspected, but the sagacity of Bishop Percy, James Hogg, Walter Scott, and especially Professor Wilson (see Blackwood's Magazine, December 1819), ultimately demonstrated the imposition, much to the reputation of the real author.
Invited by Cromek to seek a higher sphere of fortune, he went to London in 1810. After a short period of employment with the sculptor Bubb, he devoted himself to newspaper reporting. This confining labour affected his health, and he was ultimately fortunate enough to obtain an engagement in Chantrey's studio. He became secretary or clerk of the works; and in this situation he continued till his death. Chantrey's gratitude to Cunningham's long and valuable services was displayed in his will. In this congenial position of comfort and independence, he enjoyed opportunities for the employment of his active pen, and for intercourse with men of kindred genius. His warm heart, his honest, energetic, upright, and earnest character, attracted the affectionate esteem and respect of all who enjoyed his acquaintance. He died at London in 1842.
Cunningham's poetry consists of songs, ballads, and kindred short pieces; a species of Epic, in Spenserian stanzas, "The Maid of Elvar," illustrative of Dumfriesshire scenery and society a few centuries ago; and "Sir Marmaduke Maxwell," a wild tumultuous collection of border superstition. His prose works include three novels, "Paul Jones," "Sir Michael Scott," and "Lord Roldan;" "Life of Burns," "Traditional Tales," "Lives of eminent British painters, sculptors, and architects," in Murray's Family Library; and he died in the act of finishing a "Life of Sir D. Wilkie." A very genial work of Cunningham is his "Songs of Scotland." He left, says his son, "some thirty volumes of works, and ample materials for perhaps ten more."
Cunningham's smaller poems are airy, natural, and intensely Scotch; vigorous, and even splendid in their higher moods, affectingly pathetic in their softer strains. His poetic wing was not formed, as the "Maid of Elvar" proves, for a long continued flight; the poem is weighed heavily down by its stanza and prolixity of description. Many of his "Tales" are pleasing, with a strong border relish about them, but their features are often strained and violent. The same criticism is applicable to his novels, which are piles of glittering description, and exaggerated and unnatural characters, sufficient to furnish forth ornament for fifty fictions, and wonder for whole generations of boyhood. His judgment did not control the fervour of his genius, or corroborate the slenderness of his knowledge in the delineation of character, and the architecture of scenic combination. His critical power in the fine arts is directed in a great measure by his poetical faculty, and his reader feels that though he peruses a pleasing writer, he is undirected by an authoritative judge; nay, that his decision in the severer technicalities of art and literature is the reflex of opinion derived from external sources. The cast of Cunningham's education and business in life necessarily prevented his learning on the subjects on which he writes from being minute and comprehensive. Hence he is too much inclined to generalize from isolated facts in history, and his conclusions are often felt to be wrought from too slender a thread of premises. But Cunningham is an eloquent and honest writer; and in the diffuse and brilliant stream of his style the reader forgets defects which are inexcusable only in the highest genius with the most unfettered opportunities.