ALEXANDER CRUDEN

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 153, 25 March 1938, Page 18

ALEXANDER CRUDEN

Compiler Of The Concordance HIS TRAGIC LIFE Two hundred years ago Alexander Cruden, talented son of Aberdeen, had the satisfaction of seeing the first edition of his Concordance published—that work which had cost him years of painstaking study and toil, writes A. Mary Anderson. There had been many such books in existence before his time, but Cruden claimed that his methods made bis book “preferable to any other.” That claim has been made good. It has been asserted with truth that “next to the sacred writings, no volume better deserves a place in the library of the Christian.’’ The author of tills compilation presents an interesting study to the psychologist. The student Cruden was painstaking to the point of genius, aud a much sought-after corrector of proofs for the Press because of this quality. When left to labour in peace, he was trustworthy and reliable, but his highlystrung' nervous temperament was not equal to the strain of opposition and worry. The storms , and stress of life proved fatal more than once to his mental balance. He was no recluse. His zeal for souls, springing from his strong Calvinistic views due to his strict upbringing, led him finally into social and evangelistic woi-k in which he had much success. He was known as a friend of the poor —a liberal dispenser of material as well as spiritual help. The Darker Side. But there was the dark side to his life. It may be that in his own trials lay the secret of his intense sympathy with all suffering, for “he who suffers most hath most to give.” His malady showed itself early in life. After he had taken his arts degree at Marischal College and was looking forward to beginning his Divinity course, his mind became- so deranged that he had to be placed under restraint. An unhappy love affair- seems to have been the immediate cause of this. The boy was deeply in love; the woman persistently repulsed him. But the thing that cut his sensitive and lipright nature to the quick was the discovery that she, his ideal woman, was a 1 whited sepulchre, involved in an immoral liaison too horrible to'contemplate. < After his recovery, Cruden cut all connection with his former surroundings, now full of painful associations. He went south and finally settled- in London in 1732. He began work as a press-corrector, and also opened a bookshop. Things went well. Soon he was able to begin working at tlie Concordance, long a cherished ambition with him. A Queen Smiles. Through the influence of friends, Cruden had been appointed Bookseller to Queen Caroline, and the 1737 edition of the Concordance is dedicated to Her Majesty, who, we are told, “smiled upon the author,” and promised him “some solid proof of Royal munificence.” But alas! the Queen died before she had time to carry out this intention. The expenses of publication exhausted the author’s resources, hnd he had to dispose of his business. The depression, which followed the protracted strain of his close work, added to financial anxiety, brought on it return of his mental disorder. Cruden’s' consequent confinement in a private asylum, and a repetition of the same treatment 15 years later, was most unwise, for the restraint and the treatment he was subjected to only irritated his mind and increased the trouble. Mrs. Wild, the sister who had sanctioned Cruden’s removal to the asylum, was presented by him with “proposals to reconciliation, viz., that she should consent to be imprisoned in Newgate for 48 hours and pay £lO to Mr. Cruden.” To tlie victim’s surprise, his terms were not accepted. He writes: “It is a little comical that there should be so much trouble in getting this woman confined for 48 hours, who byword of her mouth confined the Corrector for 17 days!” From tills time on his activities were ruled by the conviction that lie had a special mission to reform the age, specially in regard to Sunday observance. He travelled about, “exhorting people to keep the day holy,” under the threat of dire penalties. A Streak of Wisdom. A streak of worldly wisdom was combined with his religious zeal, and in order to forward his mission he went a-wooing of a wealthy widow. This lady refused absolutely to have anything to say to him. All undaunted, he persevered, but his clumsy, if original,. overtures were hardly of a kind to win any fair lady. He even went the length of distributing “praying bills,” in various congregations, to be used on her behalf. This was intended as a proof that he was "more thought fill for her than all her friends.” About this time, fortunately both for him and the widow, he had the chance of getting back to a lite of plodding industry, and he took it. Proof correcting and preparing a new edition of the Concordance left him no time to pursue his “love” affair, and gradually his mind was restored to quietness.

What leisure be had he devoted to work among the poor. One girl, reclaimed from depths of degradation, showed her gratitude by years of faithful service in her rescuer’s household, right up to the time of his death. Another striking case is also on record—that a would-be suicide, a “down-and-out,” whom Cruden succeeded in turning from his purpose and helping to better things. In 1709 he revisited Aberdeen, and pursued his mission work there for a whole year. The missioner was not without a.certain pawky humour, as be showed when he presented a conceited young clergyman with a child’s catechism, “dedicated to the young and ignorant I” The aforetime “lad o’ pairts’ was well received In his native place, and his general excellence of character was held to outweigh his singularities. This mission to his native place was Cruden’s last bit of work. He returned to London in the summer of 1770 and died a few months later. Cruden’s name goes down to posterity with his Concordance, that monument of his peculiar talent, which has justified its author's ciaim of excellence and lasting worth.