William Mure Biography

Sir William Mure (1594–1657) was a Scottish writer and politician.

The son of Sir William Mure of Rowallan, his mother was Elizabeth, sister of the poet Alexander Montgomerie. He was a member of the Scottish parliament in 1643, and took part in the English campaign of 1644. He was wounded at the battle of Marston Moor, but a month later was commanding a regiment at Newcastle.

He wrote Dido and Aeneas; a translation (1628) of Boyd of Trochrig's Latin Hecatombe Christiana; The True Crucifixe for True Catholikes (1629); a paraphrase of the Psalms; the Historie and Descent of the House of Rowallane; A Counter-buff to Lysimachus Nicanor; The Cry of Blood and of a Broken Covenant (1650);besides much miscellaneous verse and many sonnets.

A complete edition of his works was edited by William Tough for the Scottish Text Society (2 vols., 1898). Mure's Lute-Book, a musical document of considerable interest, is preserved in the Laing collection of manuscripts in the library of the university of Edinburgh.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.