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ALEXANDER CRUDEN (1701-1770)

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 523 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALEXANDER See also:CRUDEN (1701-1770)  , author of the well-known See also:concordance (q.v.) to the See also:English See also:Bible, was See also:born at See also:Aberdeen on the 31st of May 1701 . He was educated at the See also:grammar school, Aberdeen, and studied at Marischal See also:College, intending to enter the See also:ministry . He took the degree of See also:master of arts, but soon after began to show signs of See also:insanity owing to a disappointment in love . After a See also:term of confinement he recovered and removed to See also:London . In 1722 he had an engagement as private See also:tutor to the son of a See also:country See also:squire living at See also:Eton See also:Hall, See also:South-See also:gate, and also held a similar See also:post at See also:Ware . Years afterwards, in an application for the See also:title of bookseller to the See also:queen, he stated that he had been for some years corrector for the See also:press in See also:Wild See also:Court . This probably refers to this See also:time . In 1729 he was employed by the loth See also:earl of See also:Derby as a reader and secretary, but was discharged on the 7th of See also:July for his See also:ignorance of See also:French See also:pronunciation . He then lodged in a See also:house in Soho frequented exclusively by Frenchmen, and took lessons in the See also:language in the See also:hope of getting back his post with the earl, but when he went to Knowsley in See also:Lancashire, the earl would not see him . He returned to London and opened a bookseller's See also:shop in the Royal See also:Exchange . In See also:April 1735 he obtained the title of See also:book-seller to the queen by recommendation of the See also:lord See also:mayor and most of the Whig aldermen . The post was an unremunerative See also:sinecure .

In 1737 he finished his concordance, which, he says, was the See also:

work of several years . It was presented to the queen on the 3rd of See also:November 1737, a fortnight before her See also:death . Although See also:Cruden's biblical labours have made his name a See also:household word among English-speaking See also:people, he was disappointed in his hopes of immediate profit, and his mind again became unhinged . In spite of his See also:earnest and self-denying piety, and his exceptional intellectual See also:powers, he See also:developed idiosyncrasies, and his See also:life was marred by a harmless but ridiculous egotism, which so nearly bordered on insanity that his See also:friends sometimes thought it necessary to have him confined . He paid unwelcome addresses to a widow, and was confined in a madhouse in Bethnal See also:Green . On his See also:release he published a pamphlet dedicated to Lord H . (probably See also:Harrington, secretary of See also:state) entitled The London See also:Citizen exceedingly injured, or a See also:British See also:Inquisition Displayed . He also published an See also:account ofhis trial, dedicated to the See also:king . In See also:December 1740 he writes to See also:Sir H . See also:Sloane saying he has been employed since July as Latin See also:usher in a boarding-school at See also:Enfield . He then found work as a See also:proof-reader, and several See also:editions of See also:Greek and Latin See also:classics are said to have owed their accuracy to his care . He super-intended the See also:printing of one of See also:Matthew See also:Henry's commentaries, and in 1750 printed a small Compendium of the See also:Holy Bible (an abstract of the contents of each See also:chapter), and also reprinted a larger edition of the Concordance .

About this time he adopted the title of " See also:

Alexander the Corrector," and assumed the See also:office of correcting the morals of the nation, especially with regard to See also:swearing and See also:Sunday observance . For this office he believed himself divinely See also:corn. missioned, but he petitioned See also:parliament for a formal See also:appointment in this capacity . In April 1755 he printed a See also:letter to the See also:speaker and other members of the House of See also:Commons, and about the same time an " Address to the King and Parliament." He was in the See also:habit of carrying a sponge, with which he effaced all See also:inscriptions which he thought contrary to See also:good morals . In See also:September 1753, through being involved in a See also:street brawl, he was confined in an See also:asylum in See also:Chelsea for seventeen days at the instance of his See also:sister, Mrs Wild . He brought an unsuccessful See also:action against his friends, and seriously proposed that they should go into confinement as an See also:atonement . He published an account of this second See also:restraint in " The Adventures of Alexander the Corrector." He made attempts to See also:present to the king in See also:person an account of his trial, and to obtain the See also:honour of See also:knighthood, one of his predicted honours . In 1754 he was nominated as See also:parliamentary See also:candidate for the See also:city of London, but did not go to the See also:poll . In 1755 he paid unwelcome addresses to the daughter of Sir See also:Thomas Abney, of Newington (1640-1722), and then published his letters and the See also:history of his repulse in the third See also:part of his " Adventures." In See also:June and July 1755 he visited See also:Oxford and See also:Cambridge . He was treated with the respect due to his learning by officials and residents in both See also:universities, but experienced some boisterous fooling at the hands of the undergraduates . At Cambridge he was knighted with See also:mock ceremonies . There he appointed " See also:deputy correctors " to represent him in the university . He also visited Eton, See also:Windsor, See also:Tonbridge and See also:Westminster See also:schools, where he appointed four boys to be his deputies .

(An Admonition to Cambridge is preserved among letters from J . See also:

Neville of See also:Emmanuel to Dr See also:Cox Macro, in the British Museum.) The Corrector's Earnest Address to the Inhabitants of See also:Great See also:Britain, published in 1756, was occasioned by the See also:earthquake at See also:Lisbon . In 1762 he saved an ignorant See also:seaman, See also:Richard See also:Potter, from the gallows, and in 1763 published a pamphlet recording the history of the See also:case . Against See also:John Wilkes, whom he hated, he wrote a small pamphlet, and used to delete with his sponge the number 45 wherever he found it, this being the offensive number of the See also:North Briton . In 1769 he lectured in Aberdeen as " Corrector," and distributed copies of the See also:fourth commandment and various religious tracts . The wit that made his eccentricities palatable is illustrated by the See also:story of how he gave to a conceited See also:young See also:minister whose See also:appearance displeased him A See also:Mother's See also:Catechism dedicated to the young and ignorant . The Scripture See also:Dictionary, compiled about this time, was printed in Aberdeen in two volumes shortly after his death . Alexander See also:Chalmers, who in his boyhood heard Cruden lecture in Aberdeen and wrote his See also:biography, says that a verbal See also:index to See also:Milton, which accompanied the edition of Thomas See also:Newton, See also:bishop of See also:Bristol, in 1769, was Cruden's . The second edition of the Bible Concordance was published in 1761, and presented to the king in person on the 21st of December . The third appeared in 1769 . Both contain a pleasing portrait of the author . He is said to have gained £800 by these two editions .

He returned to London from Aberdeen, and died suddenly while praying in his lodgings in See also:

Camden Passage, See also:Islington, on the 1st of November 1770 . He was buried in the ground of a See also:Protestant dissenting See also:congregation in Dead See also:Man's See also:Place, See also:Southwark . He bequeathed a portion of his savings for a 5 bursary at Aberdeen, which preserves his name on the See also:list of benefactors of the university . (D .

End of Article: ALEXANDER CRUDEN (1701-1770)
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