Lauder, George

(?1600-1677)

   Scottish poet who graduated M.A. from Edinburgh University in 1620, then entered the English army, where he reached the rank of colonel. In 1627 he accompanied the Duke of Buckingham on the expedition to the isle of Ré (a small island off the French coast, opposite La Rochelle). Letters from the Prince of Orange suggest that Lauder was also an officer in his army (1662-1667). Edinburgh publisher David Laing published Fugitive Scottish Poetry of the Seventeenth Century (1823-1825), in which he includes an "Epitaph on the Honorable Colonel George Lauder, by Alexander Wedderburne" (see entry for Wedderburn Brothers). Lauder's poem "Damon, or a Pastoral Elegy on the Death of his Honored Friend, William Drummond of Hawthornden," was prefixed to Drummond's Poems, in Corser's Collectanea Anglo-Poetica (1711). Some of Llauder's publications: Lauderdale's Valedictory Address, 1622. The Anatomie of the Romane Clergie, 1623. The Souldier's Wish, 1628. The Scottish Souldier, 1629. Tears on the Death of Evander, 1630. Aretophel, a Memorial of the Second Lord Scott of Buccleuch, ?1634. A Horse, 1646. Mars Belgicus, or ye Funeral Elegy on Henry, Prince of Orange, 1647. Death of King Charles, 1649. Caledonias Covenant, 1661.

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu).