Author: LOGAN (John):
Title: Poems, by the Rev. Mr. Logan, one of the Ministers of Leith.
Description: London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1781. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. vii [viii blank], 118 [119 - 120 blank], including half-title, original blue-gray wrappers (somewhat soiled), with "Logan's Poems" in a contemporary hand on front cover, uncut, rebacked with stiff paper spine; short tear in fore-margin of half-title, but a rather pleasant copy in its original condition. Logan (1747/8 - 1788) did not lead a charmed life: the year that this work was published was also the year that Catharine Rogers, a servant girl, gave birth to his illegitimate son. Then, he was accused of plagiarism, as he included an "Ode to the Cuckoo" in this volume, which had been published before in a volume Logan edited of Michael Bruce's poems. Logan claimed that he had written, but the evidence seems to suggest otherwise. However, he met Adam Smith about this time, and Smith was favourably taken with his abilities, later writing in one of his letters that his lectures on universal history were "approved and even admired by some of the best and most impartial judges." Writing to Andrew Strahan, who had taken over his father's printing and publishing business, Smith described Logan as "a Clergyman of uncommon learning, taste, and ingenuity, but who cannot easily submit to the puritanical spirit of this country." A short account of Logan's involvement with Smith can be found in Ian Ross's Life of Adam Smith (1995), pp. 342 - 344.

Keywords: poetry Christianity literature Scottish Enlightenment


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