Thomas Ruddiman (October 167419 January 1757) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

classical scholar Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

Life

Ruddiman was born on a farm near Boyndie, three miles from Banff in

Banffshire Banffshire (; ; ) is a historic county in Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. The historic county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since 1996 the area has been spli ...

, where his father was a farmer. He was educated locally and then studied at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

. Initially from 1695, he was schoolmaster in

Laurencekirk Laurencekirk (, , ), locally known as Lournie or simply 'The Kirk', is a small town in the historic county of Kincardineshire, Scotland, just off the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen main road. It is administered as part of Aberdeenshire. It is the l ...

. Then in 1700, through the influence of Dr

Archibald Pitcairne Archibald Pitcairne or Pitcairn (25 December 165220 October 1713) was a Scotland, Scottish physician. He was a physician and poet who first studied law at Edinburgh and Paris graduating with an M.A. from Edinburgh in 1671. He turned hi ...

, he became an assistant in the

Advocates' Library The Advocates Library, founded in 1682, is the law library of the Faculty of Advocates, in Edinburgh. It served as the national deposit library of Scotland until 1925, at which time through an act of Parliament, the National Library of Scotland ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. He founded (1715) a successful printing business, and in 1728 was appointed printer to the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. He acquired the ''

Caledonian Mercury The ''Caledonian Mercury'' was a newspaper in Edinburgh, Scotland, published three times a week between 1720 and 1867. In 2010 an online publication launched using the name. 17th century A short-lived predecessor, the '' Mercurius Caledonius'', ...

'' in 1729, and in 1730 was appointed keeper of the Advocates' Library, resigning in 1752. He is buried at

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 1 ...

, Edinburgh. The monument was erected in 1801 by his relative, Dr William Ruddiman. It stands in the north-west section of the graveyard.

Family

He was married to Anna Smith (1694–1769).Inscription on tomb His nephew

Walter Ruddiman Walter Ruddiman (1719 – 6 June 1781) was a Scottish printer, publisher and newspaper proprietor based in Edinburgh. Born in Alvah, near Banff, in the North-East of Scotland, he was the youngest son of the farmer James Ruddiman (c. 1680 – c. 1 ...

(1719–1781) also from Banff, similarly established a successful business in Edinburgh as a printer and publisher.

Works

His main early writings were editions of Florence Wilson's ''De Animi Tranquillitate Dialogus'' (1707), and the ''Cantici Solomonis Paraphrasis Poetica'' (1709) of Arthur Johnston (1587–1641), editor of the ''Deliciae Poetarum Scotorum''. On the death of Dr Pitcairne he edited his friend's

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

verses, and arranged for the sale of his valuable library to

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. In 1714 he published ''Rudiments of the Latin Tongue'', which was long used in Scottish schools. In 1715 he edited, with notes and annotations, the works of

George Buchanan George Buchanan (; February 1506 – 28 September 1582) was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth-century Scotland produced." His ideology of re ...

in two volumes folio. As Ruddiman was a Jacobite, Buchanan's

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

views invited his criticism. A society of scholars was formed in Edinburgh to "vindicate that incomparably learned and pious author from the calumnies of Mr Thomas Ruddiman"; but Ruddiman's remains the standard edition, though George Logan, John Love,

James Man James Man (1755–1823) was the founder of Man Group. Born in Whitechapel and apprenticed to a William Humphrey as a barrel maker, James Man decided to establish his own business as a sugar-broker in 1783. In 1784, he secured a contract to sup ...

and others attacked him with vehemence. Other works were: An edition of Gavin Douglas's translation of Virgil's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'' (1710), with an extensive Older Scots glossary; the editing and completion of James Anderson's ''Selectus Diplomatum et Numismatum Scotiae Thesaurus'' (1739); Catalogue of the Advocates' Library (1733–42); and a famous edition of

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

(1751). He also helped Joseph Ames with his ''Typographical Antiquities''. Ruddiman was for many years the representative scholar of Scotland. Writing in 1766,

Dr Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary criticism, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicograp ...

, after reproving

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of the English writer Samuel Johnson, '' Life of Samuel ...

for some bad Latin, significantly adds--"Ruddiman is dead." When Boswell proposed to write Ruddiman's life, "I should take pleasure in helping you to do honour to him", said Johnson.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * . * .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruddiman, Thomas 1674 births 1757 deaths Alumni of the University of Aberdeen People associated with the University of Edinburgh Scottish book editors Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard People from Boyndie Scottish businesspeople Scottish classical scholars Scottish librarians Scottish printers Scottish scholars and academics