John Morison

MORISON, John. b. Cairnie, Aberdeenshire, 1750 (baptized 12 June); d. Canisbay, Caithness, 12 June 1798. He was a student at King’s College, Aberdeen, after which he became a private tutor, first at Dunnet, Caithness, then at Halkirk (1768-ca. 1771). For a short time in 1773 he was a teacher at Thurso, before moving to Edinburgh. He contributed poetical pieces to Ruddiman’s Edinburgh Weekly Magazine under the pseudonym ‘Musaeus’, and met Dr Macfarlane, minister of Canongate Kirk, who was a member of the committee working on the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases. At Macfarlane’s suggestion, Morison submitted 24 paraphrases, of which seven were accepted. Some may have been amended or...