Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/19

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being continually at the acting of some new farce, for I'm grown, I know not how, so very wise, or at least think so (which is much about one), that the mob of mankind afford me a continual diversion ; and this place, tho' little, is crowded with merry-andrews, fools, and fops, of all sizes, [who] intermix'd with a few that can think, compose the comical medley of actors.

"Receive a sang made on the marriage of my young chief I am, this vacation, going through with a Dramatick Pastoral, which I design to carry the length of five acts, in verse a' the gate, and if I succeed according to my plan, I hope to tope with the authors of Pastor Fido and Aminta.

"God take care of you and yours, is the constant prayer of, sir, your faithful humble servant, ."

The poem was published in 1725, under the title of the Gentle Shepherd, and met with instant and triumphant success. A second edition was printed by Ruddiman for the author, who still resided at his shop opposite Niddry's Wynd; but the same year he removed from this his original dwelling to a house in the east end of the Luckenbooths, which had formerly been the London Coffee house. Here, in place of Mercury, he adopted the heads of Ben Jonson and Drummond of Hawthornden, and in addition to his business as a bookseller, he commenced that of a circulating library. Ramsay was the first to establish such a business in Scotland, and it appears that he did so, not without some opposition from the more serious part of the community, who found fault with him for lending the loose plays of that age to persons whose morals were liable to be tainted by them. In this shop the wits of Edinburgh continued daily to meet for information and amusement during the days of Ramsay and his successors in trade. In the year 1728, he published by subscription the second volume of his poems in quarto, (including the Gentle Shepherd,) which was equally successful with the first. Of this volume a second edition was printed in octavo in the succeeding year. In 1730, Ramsay published a collection of thirty fables, after which, though he wrote several copies of verses for the amusement of his friends, he gave nothing more to the public. His fame was now at the full, and though he had continued to issue a number of volumes every year, all equally good as those that preceded them, it could have received no real addition. Over all the three kingdoms, and over all their dependencies, the works of Ramsay were widely diffused, and warmly admired. The whole were republished by the London booksellers in the year 1731, and by the Dublin booksellers in 1733, all sterling proofs of extended popularity, to which the poet himself failed not on proper occasions to allude.

Ramsay had now risen to wealth and to high respectability, numbering among his familiar friends the best and the wisest men in the nation. By the greater part of the Scottish nobility he was caressed, and at the houses of some of the most distinguished of them, Hamilton palace, Loudoun castle, &&, was a frequent visitor. With Duncan Forbes, lord advocate, afterwards lord president, and the first of Scottish patriots, Sir John Clerk, Sir William Bennet, and Sir Alexander Dick, he lived in the habit of daily and familiar, and friendly intercourse. With contemporary poets his intercourse was extensive and of the most friendly kind. The two Hamiltons, of Bangour and Gilbertfield, were his most intimate friends. He addressed verses to Pope, to Gay, and to Somerville, the last of whom returned his poetical salutations in kind. Mitchell and Mallet shared also in his friendly greetings. Meston addressed to him verses highly complimentary, and William Scott of Thirlstane wrote Latin hexameters to his praise. Under so much good fortune he could not escape the malignant