DRUMMOND, WILLIAM (1585-1649), called "of Haw thornden," Scottish poet, was born at Hawthornden, near Edin burgh, the son of John Drummond, first laird of Hawthornden. Drummond received his early education at the high school of Edinburgh, and graduated in July 1605 as M.A. of the recently founded university of Edinburgh. He spent two years at Bourges and Paris in the study of law; but in 1609, he was again in Scot land, where, by the death of his father in 161o, he became laird of Hawthornden. In 1612 began his correspondence with Sir William Alexander of Menstrie, afterwards earl of Stirling (q.v.), which ripened into a life-long friendship.
Drummond's first poem appeared in 1613, an elegy on the death of Henry, prince of Wales, called Teares on the Death of Meliades (Moeliades, 3rd. ed. 1616). In 1616, the year of Shakespeare's death, appeared Poems; Amorous, Funerall, Divine, Pastorall: in Sonnets, Songs, Sextains, Madrigals, being substantially the story of his love for Mary Cunningham of Barns, who was about to become his wife when she died in 1615. The poems bear marks of a close study of Sidney, and of the Italian poets. He some times translates direct from the Italian, especially from Marini. Forth Feasting: A Panegyricke to the King's Most Excellent 111a jestie (1617), a poem written in heroic couplets, celebrates James's visit to Scotland in that year. In 1618 Drummond began a correspondence with Michael Drayton. The two poets continued to write at intervals for 13 years, the last letter being dated in the year of Drayton's death. In the winter of 1618-19, Drum mond had included Ben Jonson in his circle of literary friends, and at Christmas 1618 was honoured with a visit of a fortnight or more from the dramatist. The account of their conversations, long supposed to be lost, was discovered in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, by David Laing, and was edited for the Shakespeare Society in 1842. The publication of what was obviously intended merely for a private journal has given Jonson an undeserved reputation for harsh judgments, and has cast blame on Drum mond for blackening his guest's memory.
In 1623 appeared Flowers of Sion: By William Drummond of Hawthornedenne; to which is adjoyned his Cypresse Grove. From 1625 till 163o Drummond spent much of his time travelling on the Continent, but in 1627 he presented about 500 volumes to the library of the university of Edinburgh. In 1630 he again began to reside permanently at Hawthornden, and in 1632 married Elizabeth Logan, by whom he had five sons and four daughters. About 1635 he began his History of Scotland during the Reigns of the Five Jameses, a work which did not appear till 1655. His next work, entitled Irene: or a Remonstrance for Concord, Amity, and Love amongst His Majesty's Subjects (1638), embodies his political creed of submission to authority as the only logical refuge from democracy, which he hated. In 1639 he had to sign the Covenant in self-protection, but was uneasy under the burden, as several political squibs by him testify. In 1643 he published Eiaap axia: or a Defence of a Petition tendered to the Lords of the Council of Scotland by certain Noblemen and Gentlemen, a political pamphlet in support of those royalists in Scotland who wished to espouse the king's cause against the English parliament. Its burden is an invective on the intolerance of the then dominant Presbyterian clergy. His later works may be described briefly as royalist pamphlets, written with more or less caution, as the times required. Drummond took the part of Montrose; and a letter from the Royalist leader in 1646 acknowledged his services. He died on Dec. 4, 1649, and was buried in his parish church of Lasswade.
Drummond's most important works are the Cypresse Grove and the poems. The Cypresse Grove exhibits great wealth of illustra tion, and an extraordinary command of musical English. It is an essay on the folly of the fear of death. "This globe of the earth," says he, "which seemeth huge to us, in respect of the universe, and compared with that wide pavilion of heaven, is less than little, of no sensible quantity, and but as a point." This is one of Drummond's favourite moods; and he uses constantly in his poems such phrases as "the All," "this great All." Even in such of his poems as may be called more distinctively Christian, this philosophic conception is at work. Drummond was called "the Scottish Petrarch;" and his sonnets, which are the expression of a genuine passion, stand far above most of the contemporary Petrarcan imitations.
Poems, with Cvpresse Grove, the His tory, and a few of the minor tracts, were collected in 1656 and edited by Edward Phillips, Milton's nephew. The Works of William Drum mond, of Hawthornden (I 7 i I) , edited by Bishop Sage and Thomas Ruddiman, contains a life by the former, and some of the poet's letters. A handsome edition of the Poems was printed by the Maitland Club in 1832. Later editions are by Peter Cunningham (1833) , by William R. Turnbull in "The Library of Old Authors" (1856) , by W. C. Ward (1894) for "The Muses' Library," and by Prof. Kastner (Scot. Text Soc. 1913) . The standard biography of Drummond is by David Masson (1873). Extracts from the Hawthornden mss. pre served in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland were printed by David Laing in Archaeologia Scotica, vol. iv.