Knox, William (1789-1825).—Poet, s. of a farmer in Roxburghshire, wrote several books of poetry, The Lonely Hearth, Songs of Israel, Harp of Zion, etc., which gained him the friendship of Scott. He fell into dissipated habits, was latterly a journalist in Edin., and d. at 36.
Kyd, Thomas (1558-1595).—Dramatist, s. of a London scrivener, ed. at Merchant Taylor's School, appears to have led the life of hardship so common with the dramatists of his time, was for a short time imprisoned for "treasonable and Atheistic views," and made translations from the French and Italian. His drama, The Spanish Tragedy (1594), had extraordinary popularity, and was translated into Dutch and German. Some of the scenes are believed to have been contributed by another hand, probably by Ben Jonson. He also produced a play on the story of Hamlet, not now in existence, and he may have written the first draft of Titus Andronicus. Other plays which have been attributed to him are The First Part of Jeronimo (1605), Cornelia (1594), The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune, and The Tragedye of Solyman and Perseda (1599). But, although one of the best known dramatists in his day, very little is now certain either as to his personal history or his works.
Laidlaw, William (1780-1845).—Poet, s. of a border farmer, became steward and amanuensis to Sir W. Scott, and was the author of the beautiful and well-known ballad, Lucy's Flittin'.
Laing, David (1793-1878).—Antiquary, s. of a bookseller in Edin., with whom he was in partnership until his appointment, in 1837, as librarian of the Signet Library. He ed. many of the publications of the Bannatyne Club, of which he was sec. (1823-61). He was also Honorary Prof. of Antiquities to the Royal Scottish Academy. Among the more important works which he ed. were Baillie's Letters and Journals (1841-2), John Knox's Works (1846-64), and the poems of Sir D. Lyndsay, Dunbar, and Henryson.
Laing, Malcolm (1762-1818).—Was a country gentleman in Orkney. He completed Henry's History of Great Britain, and wrote a History of Scotland from the Union of the Crowns to the Union of the Kingdoms (1802). He was an assailant of the authenticity of the Ossianic poems, and wrote a dissertation on the Participation of Mary Queen of Scots in the Murder of Darnley. He did much to improve the agriculture of Orkney.
Lamb, Lady Caroline (1785-1828).—Novelist, dau. of 3rd Earl of Bessborough, m. the Hon. William Lamb, afterwards Lord Melbourne and Prime Minister. She wrote three novels, which, though of little literary value, attracted much attention. The first of these, Glenarvon (1816), contained a caricature portrait of Lord Byron, with whom the authoress had shortly before been infatuated. It was followed by Graham Hamilton (1822), and Ada Reis (1823). Happening to meet the hearse conveying the remains of Byron, she became unconscious, and fell into mental alienation, from which she never recovered.
