th.

dence by the conduct and valour of the Great | Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, by whose exe

Bruce." For the period of Edward I. substitute that of George I., and for the Great Bruce" the Pretender, and the object of the poem will stand revealed. The Vision" is a production of great power; in it the genius of Scotland is drawn with a touch of the old heroic muse:

"Great daring darted frae his e'e, A braidsword shogled at his thie,

On his left arm a targe;

A shining spear filled his right hand,
In stalwart make in bane and brawnd,
Of just proportions large;
A various rainbow-coloured plaid
Ower his left spaul he threw;

Doun his braid back, frae his white head,
The silver wimplers grew.

Amazed I gazed

To see, led at his command,
A stampant and rampant
Fierce lion in his hand."

Ramsay's next publication at once estab-
lished his reputation upon an enduring foun-
dation. The "Gentle Shepherd," a pastoral
comedy in five acts, the best poem of its kind,
perhaps, in any language, was published in 1725.
Its success was immediate and unprecedented;
edition followed edition, and in a few years
it was known to every admirer of poetry in
Great Britain, and was a fireside companion
of almost every cottager in Scotland. The
popularity of Gay's "Beggar's Opera" induced
Ramsay to print a new edition of the "Gentle
Shepherd," with songs interspersed, adapted
to Scottish airs, and these it has ever since
retained. The original manuscript of the
"Gentle Shepherd" was recently purchased for
thirty-one guineas by William Chambers of
Glenormiston. The text varies in many in-
stances from that of the printed copies, and
presents some curious readings. Ramsay, like
Burns, was a careful corrector, but not always
with equal taste or judgment. It is to be
hoped that Mr. Chambers will publish this
first draft as a literary and national object of

interest.

cutors it was sold in 1806, and has since that
time been broken up and disposed of by auction.
"Here," says one of Ramsay's biographers,
"he sold and lent books to a late period of
his life; here the wits of Edinburgh used to
meet for their amusement and for information;
and here Gay, a congenial poet ("a little
pleasant man with a tye wig," says Mr. Tytler),
was wont to look out upon the Exchange in
Edinburgh, to know persons and ascertain
characters." Allan was now a famous and
prosperous man. His society was courted by
the nobility and literati of Edinburgh, and he
was on familiar terms with contemporary poets
-the Hamiltons of Bangour and Gilbertfield,
Gay, and others. His son, afterwards a dis-
tinguished painter, he sent to Rome for in-
struction in his profession.

In 1726 Ramsay removed to a house in the High Street, and instead of Mercury adopted for his sign the heads of Ben Jonson and Drummond of Hawthornden. Here Ramsay collected the first circulating library opened in Scotland. After his death it passed into the hands of James Sibbald, editor of the well-known

About this time the bard appeared with another volume of poems, followed in 1730 by his "Thirty Fables," undoubtedly the best of his minor productions. Among them is "The Monk and the Miller's Wife," a story which, though previously told by Dunbar, "would of itself," as it has been remarked, "be Ramsay's passport to immortality as a poet." With these he seems to have concluded his poetic labours, presenting in this another instance of his characteristic prudence. In a letter to his friend Smibert the painter he says, "I e'en gave over in good time, before the coolness of fancy that attends advanced years should make me risk the reputation I had acquired.” An edition of his poems was published in London in 1731, and another appeared in London in 1733.

Three years later his passion for the drama and his enterprising spirit prompted him to erect a new theatre; but in the following year, 1737, the act for licensing the stage was passed, and the magistrates ordered the house to be shut up. By this speculation he lost considerably, and it is remarked by his biographers that this was the only unfortunate project in which he ever engaged.

In 1743 the poet lost his wife, who was buried in the Grayfriars' Churchyard; but his three daughters, grown to womanhood, in some measure supplied her place. It appears to have been about this period, and with the view of relinquishing business, which still went on prosperously, that he erected a house