Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 47.djvu/248

  furnished by his own recollection or that of his friends of all classes, supplemented by contributions from ministers of the various churches into which Scotland was divided, and others of his countrymen. Those who heard the dean tell Scottish stories maintained that print weakened their flavour, but they were woven together in the ‘Reminiscences’ in an artless personal narrative, which has a charm of its own.

Besides the ‘Reminiscences,’ Ramsay published ‘A Catechism’ (1835), at one time much used; a volume of ‘Advent Sermons’ (1850); a series of lectures on ‘Diversities of Christian Character’ (1858), and another on ‘Faults of Christian Believers,’ subsequently combined in a treatise on ‘The Christian Life’ (1862); two ‘Lectures on Handel’ (1862), delivered at the Philosophical Institution, Edinburgh; and ‘Pulpit Table-Talk’ (1868), as well as single sermons and pamphlets on ecclesiastical subjects. He was the principal founder of the Scottish Episcopal Church Society, now absorbed in the Representative Church Council, a society which improved the still slender emoluments of the clergy of the episcopal church. In theology his sympathy was with the evangelical rather than the high-church party, and in politics with the liberal conservatives. He retained through life a warm friendship for Mr. Gladstone, with whom he was associated in the foundation of Trinity College, Glenalmond. But he was not a man of party, and the epithet unsectarian might have been invented for him. His intercourse with the clergy of other communions and the liberality of his conduct did much to lessen the prejudice with which episcopacy was regarded in Scotland. He supported Dean Stanley when he opened the pulpit of Westminster Abbey to clergy who did not belong to the church of England. He was himself a practical and sympathetic preacher, with a natural persuasive eloquence, aided by a fine voice, which made his reading of the liturgy singularly impressive. He died in Edinburgh on 27 Dec. 1872.

Ramsay married, in 1829, Isabella Cochrane, a Canadian, who predeceased him without children. Her nephews and nieces found a home in his house, where his brother, Admiral Sir W. Ramsay, resided, after retiring from the navy.

A tablet was placed in St. John's Church by his congregation, and an Iona cross in the adjoining burial-ground, facing Prince's Street, was erected to his memory by public subscription. His portrait by Sir John Steell is in the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.

[Memoir by Professor Cosmo-Innes; information from his nephew, Mr. Alexander Burnett, and personal knowledge.]

 RAMSAY, FOX MAULE, second and eleventh  (1801–1874). [See ]

 RAMSAY, GEORGE (1800–1871), philosophical writer, second son of Sir William Ramsay, bart., of Bamff House, Aylth, Perthshire, by Agnata Frances, daughter of Vincent Biscoe of Hookwood, Surrey, and elder brother of William Ramsay (1806–1865) [q. v.], professor of humanity at the university of Glasgow, was born on 19 March 1800. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1823, and M.B. in 1826. He succeeded his elder brother, Sir James Ramsay, as ninth baronet on 1 Jan. 1859, and died at Bamff on 22 Feb. 1871. He married, in 1830, Emily Eugenie, youngest daughter of Captain Henry Lennon of Westmeath, by whom he had issue three sons, of whom the eldest, Sir James Henry Ramsay, the historian, succeeded to the title. His youngest son, George Gilbert Ramsay, LL.D., was elected to the chair of humanity in the university of Glasgow in 1863.

Ramsay was a voluminous writer on philosophical topics, but made no contribution of importance to philosophical inquiry. His publications are: 1. ‘An Essay on the Distribution of Wealth,’ Edinburgh, 1836, 8vo. 2. ‘A Disquisition on Government,’ Edinburgh, 1837, 12mo. 3. ‘Political Discourses,’ Edinburgh, 1838, 8vo. 4. ‘An Enquiry into the Principles of Human Happiness and Human Duty,’ London, 1843, 8vo. 5. ‘A Classification of the Sciences,’ Edinburgh, 1847, 4to. 6. ‘The Philosophy and Poetry of Love,’ New York, 1848, 8vo. 7. ‘Analysis and Theory of the Emotions,’ London, 1848, 8vo. 8. ‘An Introduction to Mental Philosophy,’ Edinburgh, 1853, 8vo. 9. ‘Principles of Psychology,’ London, 1857, 8vo. 10. ‘Instinct and Reason, or the First Principles of Human Knowledge,’ London, 1862, 8vo. 11. ‘The Moralist and Politician, or Many Things in Few Words,’ London, 1865, 8vo. 12. ‘Ontology, or Things Existing,’ London, 1870, 8vo.

[Times, 27 Feb. 1871; Foster's Baronetage, ‘Ramsay;’ Brit. Mus. Cat.]  RAMSAY, GEORGE, twelfth (1806–1880), admiral, second son of John, the fourth son of George Ramsay, eighth earl of Dalhousie, was born on 26 April 1806. He entered the navy in 