168 SOUTH LEITH [PRESB. OF
was removed soon after his birth to Gosford
Mains, East Lothian, and received his
early education at the Grammar School
of Musselburgh. In 1762 he entered the
Univ. of Edinburgh, where he excelled in
classics and English literature. He was
for a time tutor at Ulbster to John, after-
wards the celebrated Sir John Sinclair,
Bart. ; licen. by Presb. of Haddington 27th
Sept. 1770 ; he received, in the year follow-
ing, a presentation to this parish, but a
competing presentation delayed his settle-
ment until the matter came before the
Court of Session, which gave judgment in
his favour. He was accordingly ordained
2nd April 1773. In 1775 he became a
member of the Assembly's Committee on
the Paraphrases, and was the largest con-
tributor to the collection. During the
college sessions, 1779-80 and 1780-81, he
delivered a series of Lectures on History,
which the Edinburgh literati regarded
with much favour. The presentation of
his tragedy of Rimnamede at an Edin-
burgh theatre, in 1783, gave offence to his
parishioners and to many of the public
—
so pronounced, indeed, was the feeling
against him that for this, and other
reasons, he found it expedient to demit
his charge, 27th Dec. 1786. He had an
annuity of £40 from the stipend. The
remainder of his life was spent in London,
where he occupied himself with literary
pursuits. He died unmarr., on Christmas
Day 1788. As a preacher he was con-
sidered one of the most eloquent of his
time. It is around his reputation as a
poet that the main interest centres. In
1770 he published the Poems of his friend
and fellow-student, Michael Bruce, adding
" some poems written by different authors."
The " Ode to the Cuckoo " was the second
last piece of the collection. Eleven
years later he issued a volume of Poems
under his own name, in which the
" Cuckoo " ode had first place. Then
began the long Logan-Bruce controversy,
which is not likely to be ever satisfactorily
settled. The charge against Logan of
appropriating both Bruce's "Hymns" and
" Ode to the Cuckoo " has been renewed
from time to time, and the assertion is
made that all the Paraphrases which he
furnished to the Church were also the
work of his friend. Logan, however, was
a genuine poet, and in spite of circum-
stances which militate against his claims,
a good case can be made out in his
behalf. He was probably the sole author
of Pars, viii., ix., x., xi., xviii., xxxi.,
xxxviii., liii., lvii., and of Hymn v.
;
and he may have revised (or assisted to
revise) Pars, i., ii., xxiii., xxv., xxviii.,
xlviii., and lxiii. Publications—Verses on
the Esk (Scots Mag., lxv.) ; ed. Poems by
Michael Bruce (Edinburgh, 1770); Ele-
ments of the Philosophy of History, Part i.
(London, 1781) ; Essay on the Manners of
Asia, 1781 ; Poems (London, 1781 ; new ed.,
with Life, 1807) ; %Runnamede, a Tragedy
(London, 1783); A Revieio of the Principal
Charges against Warren Hastings, Esq.,
late Governor-General of Bengal (London,
1788) ; he is also said to have written A
View of Ancient History, by William
Rutherford, D.D., Head of an Academy at
Uxbridge, 2 vols. (London, 1788-93); Ser-
mons, 2 vols., with a Memoir (London,
1790-1) (which have gone through many
editions).— [Anderson's Brit. Poets, xi.
;
Chambers's Biog. Diet., iii. ; Robertson's
Lethendy Case, Maclagan's Scottish Para-
phrases, Young's Metrical Psalms and
Paraphrases ; Laing's Ode to the Cuckoo,
with Remarks on its Authorship; John
Small's (Librarian, Edin. Univ.) "Michael
Bruce and the Authorship of the Ode to the
Cuckoo," inBritishandForeignEvangelical
Review, July 1877 ; Rev. Robert Small's
" Michael Bruce versus John Logan "—two
articles in British and Foreign Evangelical
Review, April 1878 and Oct. 1879 ; Principal
Shairp's " Michael Bruce," etc., in Good
Words, Nov. 1873; Diet. Nat. Biog.]
ROBERT DICKSON, pres. by the
178l? Magistrates, Incorporations, and
Kirk-session Jan., and ord. 17th
July 1787; trans, to First Charge 29th
Sept. 1790.
THOMAS MACKNIGHT, pres. by the
1791 Ma§istrates Nov. 1790; ord. 17th
Feb. 1791 ; trans, to Trinity Parish,
Edinburgh, 21st June 1804.—[Anderson's