A monument dedicated to a man of genius, a friend of Sir Walter Scott, James Hogg and Sir Stamford Raffles dominates Denholm Green. The man, sadly forgotten by many Scots is John Casper Leyden.
John Leyden was born in Denholm in the Scottish Borders, on 8 September 1775, the son of a tenant farmer. At thirteen, he enrolled in secondary school and as history now shows, it was the precursor to a life as a writer, poet, minister, doctor and brilliant Oriental linguist.
Edinburgh University
Two years later he registered at Edinburgh University.
In his first Greek class he was asked by the professor to translate a passage but when he stood to read he was mocked, his broad Borders accent, rough manners and unfashionable dress made him a laughing stock.
As he spoke, his tormentors were silenced, the class was captivated by his eloquence and when he had finished, they applauded. The professor knew immediately that there was something special about his young student.
John Leyden spent nearly ten years at university studying a bewildering array of subjects which included Greek, Latin chemistry, physics and others. He was ordained as a minister in 1795 and preached in and around Edinburgh.
Sir Walter Scott
It was perhaps inevitable that Leyden should meet his Borders neighbour Sir Walter Scott who introduced him to James Hogg, the “Ettrick Shepherd” and both contributed to Scott’s first publication ‘The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border’.
With Scott’s help, Leyden was offered a job as an assistant surgeon in India but he needed a degree in medicine before he could take up his post.
Building on the foundations of previous study Leyden returned to university, this time to St Andrews to complete his training. With immense application, he passed the necessary exams.
Before departing for India John Leyden published ‘The Scenes of Infancy’ the poem he is best remembered for.
As well as his medical duties in the sub-continent he found time to research the customs of the natives of Mysore and drove himself to learn new languages. He studied Hindustani, Tamil, Sanskrit, Malay and others.
Stamford Raffles
At the end of 1805, he left India and sailed for Malaysia where he befriended Stamford Raffles a young Englishman whose place in history was secured some years later when he became the founder of the British colony of Singapore.
Returning to Calcutta he was introduced to Lord Minto, the Governor General of India. Minto was to become friend and mentor to his fellow Borderer and said of him, “That his knowledge of languages resembled more the ancient gift of tongues, than the slow acquisitions of ordinary men.”
In 1811, Leyden joined Minto’s naval expedition to Java and accompanied by Raffles they landed at the capital Batavia. After the island was taken, Leyden went in search of rare books and manuscripts housed in a disused library. The building, closed for many years was dank and fetid, breeding ground for germs
It wasn’t surprising when he became very ill with “sickness and shivering.” He died three days later. John Leyden was buried by his friends Lord Minto and Stamford Raffles.
There are various estimates of the number of languages he knew, it is thought he was “acquainted with 34 and knew 21 well. Minto had said of him, “ If he had been at Babel he would have infallibly have learned all the languages there.”
Leyden however was once heard to say to a friend that there was one language alone he refused to attempt, “Learn English, never!” It was trying to learn that language that spoiled my Scots.”
