ll of Pope's _Rape of the Lock_,
wherein the very machinery of the sylphs is copied from the great
English satire. Nor is the 'South Sea Bubble,' which ran its brief
course from 1718 to 1720, forgotten in _Wealth, or The Woody_ (gallows),
and two shorter poems illustrative of the prevailing madness. Epigrams,
Addresses, Elegies, and Odes are also included, along with one or two of
his famous poetical _Epistles_, modelled on those of Horace, and
brimming over with genial _bonhomie_ and good-humoured epicureanism. In
this volume, also, we have additional evidence afforded how fondly he
had become attached to Edinburgh and its environs. Scarce a poem is
there in the book that lacks some reference to well-known features in
the local landscape, showing that he still retained the love of
wandering, in his spare hours, amid Pentland glens and by fair Eskside.
Only with one extract will the reader's patience be taxed here. It is
from his _Ode to the Ph--_, and is obviously an imitation of Horace's
Ode to Thaliarchus. All the sunny glow of the great Roman's genius seems
reflected in this revival of his sentiments, albeit under varying
physical conditions, well-nigh three hundred and fifty _lustra_
afterwards. The lines cleave to the memory with a persistence that
speaks volumes for the catholicity and appropriateness of the thoughts--

'Look up to Pentland's tow'ring tap,
Buried beneath big wreaths o' snaw,
O'er ilka cleugh, ilk scaur, and slap,
As high as ony Roman wa'.

Driving their ba's frae whins or tee,
There's no ae gowfer to be seen;
Nor doucer fouk, wysing a-jee
The biassed bowls on Tamson's green.

Then fling on coals, and ripe the ribs,
And beek the house baith butt and ben;
That mutchkin stoup it hauds but dribs,
Then let's get in the tappit hen.

Guid claret best keeps out the cauld,
An' drives awa' the winter soon:
It makes a man baith gash and bauld,
An' heaves his saul ayont the moon.

Leave to the gods your ilka care;
If that they think us worth their while,
They can a rowth o' blessings spare,
Which will our fashous fears beguile.'

CHAPTER VI

RAMSAY AS AN EDITOR; THE 'TEA-TABLE MISCELLANY' AND THE
'EVERGREEN'--1721-25

The popularity accruing to Ramsay from the publication of the quarto of
1721 was so great that his fame was compared, in all seriousness, with
that of his celebrated Engli