Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/213

Rh of stirring events with which they are stored—enough, indeed, to have furnished a whole stock of novels and romances—they never became favourites with the public, and have now ceased to be remembered.

"Songs of Scotland, ancient and modern, with Introduction and Notes, Historical and Critical, and Characters of the Lyric Poets." Four Vols. 8vo. 1825. Some of the best poems in this collection are by Cunningham himself; not introduced surreptitiously, however, as in the case of Cromek, but as his own productions; and of these, "De Bruce" contains such a stirring account of the battle of Bannockburn as Scott's "Lord of the Isles" has not surpassed.

"Lives of the most eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects," published in Murray's "Family Library." Six Vols. 12mo. 1829–33. This work, although defective in philosophical and critical analysis, and chargeable, in many instances, with partiality, continues to be highly popular, in consequence of the poetical spirit with which it is pervaded, and the vivacious, attractive style in which it is written. This was what the author probably aimed at, instead of producing a work that might serve as a standard for artists and connoisseurs; and in this he has fully succeeded.

"Literary Illustrations to Major's 'Cabinet Gallery of Pictures. 1833, 1834.

"The Maid of Elvar," a poem.

"Lord Roldan," a romance,

"Life of Burns."

"Life of Sir David Wilkie." Three Vols. 8vo. 1843. Cunningham, who knew the painter well, and loved him dearly as a congenial Scottish spirit, found in this production the last of his literary efforts, as he finished its final corrections only two days before he died. At the same time, he had made considerable progress in an extended edition of Johnson's "Lives of the Poets," and a "Life of Chantrey" was also expected from his pen; but before these could be accomplished both poet and sculptor, after a close union of twenty-nine years, had ended their labours, and bequeathed their memorial to other hands. The last days of Chantrey were spent in drawing the tomb in which he wished to be buried in the church-yard of Norton, in Derbyshire, the place of his nativity; and while showing the plans to his assistant, he observed, with a look of anxiety, "But there will be no room for you." "Room for me!" cried Allan Cunningham, "I would not lie like a toad in a stone, or in a place strong enough for another to covet. O, no! let me lie where the green grass and the daisies grow, waving under the winds of the blue heaven." The wish of both was satisfied; for Chantrey reposes under his mausoleum of granite, and Cunningham in the picturesque cemetery of Harrow. The artist by his will left the poet a legacy of ₤2000, but the constitution of the latter was so prematurely exhausted that he lived only a year after his employer. His death, which was occasioned by paralysis, occurred at Lower Belgrave Place, Pimlico, on the 29th October, 1842, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.

D

—This eminent philanthropist was born in Stewarton, Ayrshire, on the 6th of January, 1739. His ancestors are said to have been farmers V.