John Johnston (poet)
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John Johnston (c.1570–1611) was a Scottish poet.
He was born not later than 1570. He styled himself Aberdonensis, i.e. "from Aberdeen". After studying at King's College, Aberdeen, he spent eight years at continental universities, sending home in 1587 from the University of Helmstadt a manuscript copy of George Buchanan's Sphæra, along with two of his own epigrams. At the University of Rostock[1] he formed a lasting friendship with Justus Lipsius.
The influence of Andrew Melville may have helped Johnston to obtain the professorship of divinity at the University of St Andrews, about 1593. His career became closely linked with Melville's. In 1598, when the general assembly of the Scottish church was sitting at Dundee, both were ordered from the town together, because of their opposition to church representation in parliament. In 1603 they jointly appealed with success to Philippe de Mornay against a decision of the synod of Gap on a polemical question. Johnston had been offered the position of second minister in Haddington, East Lothian, but he retained his university chair till his death in October 1611. Johnston's wife, Catharine Melville, and two children predeceased him, and he enshrined their memories in epigrams.
