Leyden, JOHN, poet and oriental scholar, was born, the son of a shepherd, at the village of Denholm, Roxburghshire, 8th September 1775. In 1790 he entered Edinburgh University, and was licensed as a preacher or 'probationer' of the Church of Scotland in 1798. He proved an ardent and enthusiastic student, with a hunger for knowledge, which led him into studies out of the routine, including many European and oriental languages. His strong native talent and varied gifts and attainments, in spite of his uncouth manners, secured him the attention of some of the most eminent persons of the day, including Constable, Henry Mackenzie, Ritson, the Duchess of Gordon, Lady Charlotte Campbell, and Richard Heber, by whom he was introduced to Scott. He aided the latter in gathering materials for his Border Minstrelsy, contributing an article on fairy superstitions, and on one occasion he walked between 40 and 50 miles to procure the words of a ballad which were wanting. He was also a contributor to Lewis's Tales of Wonder. His first prose work was Discoveries and Settlements of Europeans in Northern and Western Africa (1799). Meanwhile his translations and original poetical contributions to the Edinburgh Magazine had attracted attention. For a period of six months (1802) he edited the Scots Magazine. Before leaving his native country he had completed his Scenes of Infancy, descriptive of Teviotdale (1803). In 1803 he sailed for India as assistant-surgeon on the Madras establishment. After four months' service in Madras general hospital he was appointed surgeon and naturalist to the commission for the survey of Mysore and Travancore (1804). His health gave way, he was five times given up by the physician, but sick or well he continued his acquisition of languages. He resided for a time at Penang; came back to Calcutta (1806); wrote an essay on Hindustani dialects; was appointed professor in the Bengal College, and afterwards judge at Calcutta. Through the influence of Lord Minto he was appointed commissioner of the Court of Requests, then assay master of the mint. Meanwhile he translated the Gospels into five different languages. When the expedition against Java was undertaken Leyden accompanied Lord Minto thither as interpreter; and at Batavia, in the exploration of a musty, unventilated library, which contained many Indian manuscripts, he contracted a fever, of which he died, August 27, 1811.
Leyden's versification is soft and musical, but his ballads with their marvellous melody have taken a higher place than his longer poems. Next after Scott and Hogg, says Principal Shairp, he has done most to illustrate his native region. His attainments as an orientalist were extraordinary; he had a greater or less acquaintance with at least thirty-four languages or dialects. Lord Cockburn speaks of him as ever in a state of excitement, and ever panting for things unattainable by ordinary mortals. A monument to Leyden has been erected at Denholm (1861). Scott describes him as of middle stature, of athletic build, features well proportioned, lively dark eyes, a clear, somewhat ruddy complexion, and light-brown hair. Leyden's chief literary remains are a preliminary dissertation to an edition of the Complaynt of Scotland (1801); an essay on the 'Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese Nations,' printed in Asiatic Researches, vol. xix.; his Memoirs of Baber (q.v.), partly by Erskine (1826); Malay Annals (1821). See his Poetical Remains, by Morton (1819); Poems and Ballads, with reprint of memoir by Scott (1875); and Poetical Works, with memoir by T. Brown (1875). See also A. Constable and his Literary Correspondents (3 vols. 1873); and Calcutta Review, No. 61.