Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stone, Jerome
STONE, JEROME (1727–1756), linguist and poet, was born in the parish of Scoonie, Fifeshire, in 1727. His father, a seaman, died abroad in 1730, and his mother was left in poverty. He commenced at an early age to earn his living, first as a chapman, and afterwards by selling books at fairs and travelling with them over the country. With no assistance but that of his books he acquired a knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, and, with the aid of a parish schoolmaster, he studied Latin. The professors of St. Andrews, hearing of his abilities, permitted him to attend their classes, and at the end of three years recommended him for the post of usher in the grammar school, Dunkeld. In two or three years afterwards the Duke of Atholl appointed him headmaster. While in his thirtieth year he was seized with fever, and died on 11 June 1756.
Stone's fame as a linguist was wide, but he did not live to complete any large literary work. While at St. Andrews he began to contribute to magazines, and at Dunkeld he studied Gaelic literature, both Scottish and Irish, with a view to translating. His contributions to the ‘Scots Magazine’ include poems, an allegory, and a preliminary welcome to Dr. Johnson's dictionary. At his death he was engaged on two works: (1) ‘An Enquiry into the Original of the Nation and Language of the Ancient Scots;’ and (2) ‘The Immortality of Authors,’ an allegory (New Statistical Abstract, ‘Fife,’ p. 267).
[Encyclopædia Perthensis, xxi. 440; Scots Magazine, June 1756.]