The following Tract is now printed for the first time from the original
Manuscript in the old Royal Collection in the Library of the British
Museum (Bibl. Reg. 17 A. xi). It is written on paper, and consists of
forty-five leaves, the size of the pages being 5-3/4 in. by 3-3/4 in.
The dedication, the titles, and the last two lines, are written with a
different coloured ink from that employed in the body of the MS., and
appear to be in a different handwriting. It is probable that the tract
was copied for the author, but that he himself wrote the dedication to
the King.
The Manuscript is undated, and we have no means of ascertaining the
exact time when it was written; but from a passage in the dedication to
James I. of England, it is fair to infer that it was written shortly
after the visit of that monarch to Scotland, subsequent to his accession
to the throne of the southern kingdom, that is, in the year 1617. This
would make it contemporaneous with Ben Jonson’s researches on the
English Grammar; for we find, in 1629, James Howell (Letters, Sec. V.
27) writing to Jonson that he had procured Davies’ Welch Grammar for
him, “to add to those many you have.” The grammar that Jonson had
prepared for the press was destroyed in the conflagration of his study;
so that the posthumous work we now possess consists merely of materials,
which were printed for the first time in 1640, three years after the
author’s death.
The Dedication of this Tract is merely signed _Alexander Hume_, and
contains no other clue to the authorship. Curiously enough there were
four Alexander Humes living about the same time, and three of them were
educated at St. Mary’s College, St. Andrew’s; only two, however, became
authors, the first of whom was Minister of Logie, and wrote _Hymnes or
Sacred Songes_. There can be little doubt, however, that the present
grammar was written by the Alexander Hume who was at one time Head
Master of the High School, Edinburgh, and author of _Grammatica Nova_.
From Dr. Steven’s History of the High School, Edinburgh, and from
M’Crie’s Life of Melville, I have been enabled to extract and put
together the following scanty particulars of our author’s life:--The
time and place both of his birth and of his death are alike unknown;
but he himself, on the title of one of his works, tells us that he was
distantly connected with the ancient and noble family of Home, in the
county of Berwick. He was educated at the school of Dunbar, under the
celebrated Andrew Simson, and in due time was enrolled a student in St.
Mary’s College, St. Andrew’s, and then took the degree of Bachelor of
Arts in 1574. He came to England, and was incorporated at Oxford January
26, 1580-81, as “M. of A. of St. Andrew’s, in Scotland.”[1] He spent
sixteen years in England, partly engaged in studying and partly in
teaching. During the latter part of this term he was a schoolmaster at
Bath, as appears from Dr. Hill’s answer to him, published in 1592; and
the fact of his residence in this city is corroborated at page 18 of
the present treatise. He then returned to Scotland, having gained a
reputation for the excellence of his learning and for the power he
possessed of communicating it to others. On the dismissal of Hercules
Rollock, Rector of the High School, Edinburgh, from his office, Hume was
unanimously chosen to succeed him, and his appointment was dated 23rd
April, 1596. During his incumbency the High School underwent many
changes, and received the form which it retains to the present day. In
March, 1606, Hume resigned his office to become principal master in the
grammar school founded a short time previously, at Prestonpans, by the
munificent John Davidson, minister of the parish. The following document
gives an account of Hume’s admission to this school:--
{Transcriber’s Note:
In this passage, caret ^ means that the following single letter,
or bracketed group of letters, was printed in superscript.}
“At hadintoun y^e 25 of Junij 1606. The q^{lk} day M^r Jo^n ker
minister of y^e panis producit y^e prēntat^one of M^r Alex^r
hoome to be schoolm^r of y^e schoole of y^e panis foundit be M^r J^o
Davedsone for instructioune of the youth in hebrew, greek and latine
subscryvet be yais to quhome M^r Jo^n davedsone gave power to noiãt
y^e man q^{lk} prēntat^one y^e prēbrie allowit and ordenit y^e
moderator & clerk to subscrive y^e samine in y^r names q^{lk} yay
ded. As also ordeanit y^t y^e said kirk of y^e panis suld be visited
upon y^e eight day of Julij next to come for admissione of y^e said
M^r Alex^r to y^e said office. The visitors wer appoyntit M^r Ar^d
oswald M^r Robert Wallace M^r George greir M^r andro blackhall & M^r
andro Maghye to teach.”----“At Saltprestoun July 8, 1606. The haill
parischoners being poisit how yay lyckit of y^e said M^r Alex^r w^t
vniforme consent being particularly inqwyrit schew y^r guid lycking
of him and y^r willingnes to accept and receiv him to y^e said
office Q^rupon y^e said M^r Alex^r wes admittit to y^e said
office & in token of y^e approba^one both of visitors & of y^e
parischonēs p^rnt both y^e ane and y^e vother tuik y^e said M^r
Alex^r be y^e hand & y^e haill magistratis gentlemen and remanēt
parischoners p^rnt faithfullie p^rmisit to cõcurre for y^e
furtherãce of y^e work y^t yit restis to be done to y^e said schoole
as also to keipt y^e said M^r Alex^r and his scholleris skaithlis
finallie for farther authorizing of y^e said (_sic_) it wes thought
meitt y^t y^e haill visitors & parichonēs p^rnt suld enter y^e
said M^r Alex^r into y^e said schoole & y^r heir him teache q^{lk}
also wes doone.” (Rec. of Presb. of Haddington).[2]
[Footnote 1: Wood’s Fasti Oxonienses, by Bliss, I., 217.]
[Footnote 2: M’Crie’s Life of Melville, vol. ii., p. 509.]
The school rapidly rose to distinction under Hume, but in 1615 he
relinquished his position, and accepted the Mastership of the Grammar
School of Dunbar, then in high repute, and the very same school in which
he had commenced his own education. When occupied at Dunbar, Hume had
the honour of being the first who, in a set speech, welcomed James VI.
back to his Scottish dominions, after an absence of fourteen years. The
King stopped on his way northward from Berwick on the 13th of May, 1617,
at Dunglass Castle the residence of the Earl of Home, and Hume, as the
orator of the day, delivered a Latin address.
The date of Hume’s death is not known; but he was witness to a deed on
the 27th of November, 1627; and later still, in the records of the Privy
Council of Scotland, 8th and 16th July, 1630, Mr. D. Laing tells me that
there is a memorandum of the King’s letter anent the Grammar of Mr.
Alexander Hume, “schoolmaster at Dunbar.” With regard to his private
life, we know that he was married to Helen Rutherford, and had two sons
and a daughter born to him in Edinburgh between the years 1601 and 1606.
He was the father of three more children, also two sons and a daughter,
between 1608 and 1610, in the county of East Lothian.
Hume was a master in controversy, and wrote on subjects of polemical
divinity; but his mind was principally drawn towards language and the
rules of its construction. He especially gave much of his time to the
study of Latin grammar, and feeling dissatisfied with the elementary
books which were then in use, he drew up one himself, which he submitted
to the correction of Andrew Melville and other learned friends, and
published in 1612 under the title of _Grammatica Nova_. The object he
proposed to himself was to exclude from the schools the grammar of the
Priscian of the Netherlands, the celebrated John Van Pauteren, but his
work did not give the satisfaction which he had expected. He succeeded,
however, in his wishes after many reverses, by the help of Alexander
Seton, Earl of Dunfermline, Chancellor of Scotland, and by authority
both of Parliament and of the Privy Council his grammar was enjoined to
be used in all the schools of the kingdom. But through the interest of
the bishops, and the steady opposition of Ray, his successor at the High
School, the injunction was rendered of no effect. He would not, however,
be beaten, and we find that in 1623 he was again actively engaged in
adopting measures to secure the introduction of his grammar into every
school in North Britain where the Latin language was taught.