LAUDER, WILLIAM (d. 1771)

This article appears in Volume V16, Page 279 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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LAUDER, WILLIAM (d. 1771) , Scottish literary forger, was born in the latter part of the 17th century, and was educated at Edinburgh university, where he graduated in 1695. He applied unsuccessfully for the post of professor of humanity there, in succession to

Adam

Watt

WATT, JAMES (1736-1819)

, whose assistant he had been for a time, and also for the keepership of the university library. He was a good scholar, and in 1739, published Poetarum Scotorum Musae Sacrae, a collection of poems by various writers, mostly paraphrased from the Bible. In 1742 Lauder came to London. In 1947 he wrote an article for the

Gentleman

GENTLEMAN (from Lat. gentilis, " belonging to a race or gens," and " man "; Fr. gentilhomme, Span. gentil hombre, Ital. gentil huomo, in its
original
- ORIGINAL
and strict signification, a term denoting a man of good family, the Lat. generosus (its invariable transl

's Magazine to prove that Milton's Paradise Lost was largely a plagiarism from the Adamus Exul (16o1) of Hugo Grotius, the Sarcotis (1654) of J. Masen (Masenius, 16o61681), and the Poemata Sacra (1633) of Andrew Ramsay (15741659). Lauder expounded his case in a

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of articles, and in a book (1753) increased the

list

LIST (O.E.
lisle
- LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)
, a Teutonic word, cf. Dut. lust, Ger. Leiste, adapted in Ital. lista and Fr.
lisle
- LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)
)
LIST,
FRIEDRICH
- FRIEDRICH, JOHANN (1836— )
(1789-1846)

of plundered authors to nearly a hundred. But his success was short-lived. Several scholars, who had independently studied the alleged sources of Milton's

inspiration

INSPIRATION (Lat. inspirare, breathe upon or into)

, proved conclusively that Lauder had not only garbled most of his quotations, but had even inserted amongst them extracts from a Latin rendering of Paradise Lost. This led to his exposure, and he was obliged to write a complete

confession

CONFESSION (Lat. confessio, from confiteor, acknowledge, confess)

at the dictation of his former friend Samuel Johnson. After several vain endeavours to clear his character he emigrated to Barbadoes, where he died in 1771.

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