Information from ElectricScotland.com
CRUDEN, ALEXANDER, styled by himself, Alexander the Corrector, was born at Aberdeen on the 31st of May, 1700; the son of a respectable merchant and baillie of that city. Having received a good elementary education, he entered Marischal college, with the intention of studying for the church. He there made considerable progress in his studies, and had the degree of Master of Arts conferred upon him, when decided symptoms of insanity appeared. His malady has been absurdly ascribed to the bite of a mad dog, and, with more probability, to a disappointment in love. At all events it is certain, that he became so unreasonably importunate in his addresses to the daughter of one of the clergymen of Aberdeen, that it was found necessary to put him under restraint. This lady, however, it afterwards appeared was unworthy of the devotion he paid her, and there is a very interesting anecdote of his meeting her many years afterwards in London, where she had hid herself after flying from Aberdeen. On his release from confinement, in 1722, he left the scene of his disappointments, and repairing to England, found employment as tutor for many years in a family in Hertfordshire, and afterwards in the Isle of Man. In the year 1732, he settled in London, where he was employed by Mr Watts the printer as corrector of the press; he also engaged in trade as a bookseller, which he carried on in a shop under the Royal Exchange. Having gained the esteem of many of the principal citizens of London, he was, on the recommendation of the lord mayor and aldermen, appointed bookseller to the queen.
(more…)