o Draconic were its provisions, was largely due
to his energy and exertions. Thus, says a biographer, Ramsay, at the age
of sixty, had the satisfaction to see dramatical entertainments enjoyed
by the citizens, whose theatrical tastes he had kindled and fostered.

CHAPTER IX

CLOSING YEARS OF LIFE; HIS HOUSE ON CASTLEHILL; HIS FAMILY; HIS
PORTRAITS--1740-58.

Little more of a biographical character is there to relate. The last
seventeen years of Ramsay's life were passed in the bosom of his family,
and in attention to his business. His son, Allan--afterwards an artist
of great celebrity, and portrait painter to George III.,--after
studying, as the proud father informs his friend Smibert in a letter
about this time, with Mr. Hyffidg in London, and spending a little time
at home 'painting like a Raphael,' had been sent to Rome, where he made
good use of his opportunities. The father's heart yearns over the boy,
and he pathetically adds: 'I'm sweer to part with him, but canna stem
the current which flows from the advice of his patrons and his own
inclination.' His three daughters were growing up into 'fine, handsome
girls,' while 'my dear auld wife is still my bedfellow.'

What a beautiful picture we get of the kindly old poet, drawn
unconsciously by himself in this letter. Domesticity and parental
affection were two qualities pre-eminently present in Ramsay's nature.

From Mrs. Murray of Henderland we also receive a delicious side-peep
into Allan's character. In 1825 she informed Mr. Robert Chambers that
'he was one of the most amiable men she had ever known. His constant
cheerfulness and lively conversational powers had made him a favourite
amongst persons of rank, whose guest he frequently was. Being very fond
of children, he encouraged his daughters in bringing troops of young
ladies about the house, in whose sports he would mix with a patience and
vivacity wonderful in an old man. He used to give these young friends a
kind of ball once a year. From pure kindness for the young, he would
help to make dolls for them, and cradles wherein to place these little
effigies, with his own hands.'

From 1740 to 1743 he enjoyed to the full the idyllic happiness and peace
described in his epistle to James Clerk of Penicuik--

'Though born to not ae inch of ground,
I keep my conscience white and sound;
And though I ne'er was a rich heaper,
To make that up I live the cheaper;
By this ae knack I've