astoral by Allan Ramsay, Attempted in English by Margaret
Turner, London, 1790._' It was dedicated to the Prince of Wales, and its
list of Subscribers contains the names of most of the nobility of
Scotland. Is this not a reliable gauge of the popularity of the Poem?

_EDINBURGH, March 1896._

CONTENTS

PAGE
CHAPTER I

THE FAMILY TREE 9

CHAPTER II

RAMSAY'S APPRENTICESHIP; A BURGESS OF THE TOWN--1701-7 23

CHAPTER III

SCOTLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY; THE UNION;
RAMSAY'S MARRIAGE--1707-12 28

CHAPTER IV

THE EASY CLUB; EARLY POEMS; EDINBURGH OF LAST CENTURY--1712-16 41

CHAPTER V

THE FAVOURITE OF THE 'FOUR 'OORS'; FROM WIGMAKER TO BOOKSELLER;
THE QUARTO OF 1721--1717-21 56

CHAPTER VI

RAMSAY AS AN EDITOR: _THE TEA-TABLE MISCELLANY_
AND _THE EVERGREEN_--1721-25 68

CHAPTER VII

_THE GENTLE SHEPHERD_; SCOTTISH IDYLLIC POETRY;
RAMSAY'S PASTORALS--1725-30 85

CHAPTER VIII

RESTING ON HIS LAURELS; BUILDS HIS THEATRE;
HIS BOOK OF _SCOTS PROVERBS_--1730-40 97

CHAPTER IX

CLOSING YEARS OF LIFE; HIS HOUSE ON CASTLEHILL; HIS FAMILY;
HIS PORTRAITS--1740-58 112

CHAPTER X

RAMSAY AS A PASTORAL POET AND AN ELEGIST 122

CHAPTER XI

RAMSAY AS A SATIRIST AND A SONG-WRITER 144

CHAPTER XII

RAMSAY'S MISCELLANEOUS POEMS; CONCLUSION 154

ALLAN RAMSAY

CHAPTER I

THE FAMILY TREE

'Ye'd better let me gang doon wi' the wig, Miss Kirsty,' said Peggy, the
'serving-lass' in the household of Mr. James Ross, writer, of the
Castlehill.

'Oh no! I'd as leif take it doon mysel' to Allan Ramsay's, for the sake
o' the walk and the bit crack wi' the canty callant,' replied the young
lady, a blush crimsoning her fair, rounded cheek.

And Peggy would retire from these periodical but good-humoured
passages-at-arms, with a knowing smile on her face, to confide the fact,
mayhap,--of course as a profound secret,--to her cronies in the same
stair, that Miss Kirsty Ross was 'unco ta'en up wi' that sp