Logan, John

(1748-1788)

   Born at Soutra, Fala, Midlothian, Scotland, the son of a farmer, he had a grammar school education, then went to Edinburgh University. After he completed his studies for the ministry of the Church of Scotland, he was tutor to the son of Mr. (later Sir) John Sinclair of Ulbster, Caithness-shire. He was licensed to preach in 1770 and ordained in 1773 to the parish of South Leith. In 1775, he was appointed by the general assembly to the committee charged with the revision and enlargement of the paraphrases and hymns for use in public worship. In 1781, he published Poems, By the Rev. Mr. Logan, One of the Ministers of Leith, which included the "Ode to the Cuckoo," which was praised by Edmund Burke. That poem and several others were claimed to have been written by Michael Bruce (see entry) and a lawsuit followed. Logan resigned and moved to London. In 1790 and 1791 two volumes of his sermons were published. He is the author of the popular poem "The Braes of Yarrow," and he recast the hymn "O God of Bethel, by Whose Hand" by Philip Doddridge (see entry).

   Sources: A Book of Scottish Verse. Maurice Lindsay, and R.L. Mackie, ed. St. Martin's Press, 1983. 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). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org).