“ Drummond spent two years at Bourges and Paris in the study of law; and, in 1609, he was again in Scotland, where, by the death of his father in the following year, he became laird of Hawthornden at the early age of twenty-four. The list of books he read up to this time is preserved in his own handwriting. It indicates a strong preference for imaginative literature, and shows that he was keenly interested in contemporary verse. His collection (now in the library of the university of Edinburgh) contains many first editions of the most famous productions of the age. ”

“ When Lord Balmerino was put on his trial on the capital charge of retaining in his possession a petition regarded as a libel on the king’s government, Drummond in an energetic “Letter” (1635) urged the injustice and folly of the proceedings. About this time a claim by the earl of Menteith to the earldom of Strathearn, which was based on the assertion that Robert III., husband of Annabella Drummond, was illegitimate, roused the poet’s pride of blood and prompted him to prepare an historical defence of his house. ”

“ DRUMMOND, WILLIAM (1585–1649) , called “of Hawthornden,” Scottish poet, was born at Hawthornden, near Edinburgh, on the 13th of December 1585. His father, John Drummond, was the first laird of Hawthornden; and his mother was Susannah Fowler, sister of William Fowler (q.v.) , poet and courtier. 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. ”