Lehal Library

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ON THE CUNNINGHAM FAMILY Allan Cunningham, the father of the author of this volume, was born in the parish of Keir, Dumfriesshire, in 1784. Although apprenticed to his elder brother, then a stonemason, he soon showed a literary bent. At the age of eighteen he made the acquaintance of Hogg, the Ettrick shepherd, and the acquaintance ripened into a warm friendship. Early in the nineteenth century he commenced his career as an author, and his poems began to appear in various periodicals. When R. H. Cromek, the engraver, was travelling in Scotland in 1809, collecting Scottish songs, he met Cunningham., who showed him some of his work. Upon Cromek's advice Cunningham then went up to London to try his fortune at literature. For some years he worked both as a mason and as a literary man, producing a number of poems in the Day and the Literary Gazette. In 1814, Chantrey, the sculptor, to whom he had been introduced by Cromek, engaged him as his superintendent of works, and this connexion lasted down to Chantrey's death, in 1841. During this period he produced a quantity of literary work of a varied nature. He had become acquainted with Sir Walter Scott, when the latter was sitting for Chantrey, and in 1820 submitted to him a drama, Sir Marmaduke Maxioell. It was considered unsuitable to the stage, but Scott was favourably impressed with the style. In 1825 appeared The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern, which contained the well-known sea song, 'A Wet Sheet and His connexion with Chantrey gave a Flowing Sea.' him an intimate knowledge of the artistic world, which he turned to account in his Lives of the Most Eminent British Painters. Sculptors, and Architects, which he published from 1829-33. His last important work was an edition of Burns, which appeared in 1834. Late in life he made the acquaintance of Caryle, who had a warm regard for him. Cunningham died in 1842. leaving five sons and a daughter. Joseph Davey Cunningham, the eldest son and the