be blamed for not accomplishing what he never attempted, or for being blind to that which none of his contemporaries perceived. "The Tea Table Miscellany," faulty as it is from the point of view of literary history, was and long remained without rival as a collection of Scottish songs; and it has preserved much that otherwise would probably have been lost. The success of Ramsay too, encouraging others, like Oswald and Thomson, to labour in the same field, led indirectly to the recovery and preservation of other pieces.-WALKER, HUGH, 1893, Three Centuries of Scottish Literature, vol. II, p. 6.

THE EVERGREEN

1724

But the first editor who seems to have made a determined effort to preserve our ancient popular poetry was the well-known Allan Ramsay, in his Evergreen, containing chiefly extracts from the ancient Scottish Makers, whose poems have been preserved in the Bannatyne Manuscript, but exhibiting amongst them some popular ballads. SCOTT, SIR WALTER, 1802-3, ed., Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Introductory Remarks on Popular Poetry.

But for the publication of the "Evergreen, "the world might never have learnt to doubt the veracity of Allan Ramsay. On the other hand, had the "Evergreen" not come down to us, the "Vision"-its principal attraction-would have been wanting, and the poet would have lost one of the noblest of his laurels. It is better, perhaps, as it is. At any rate it is certain, that what Ramsay has lost in character, he has gained in poetic fame. The world deals mercifully with literary frauds, the more so, perhaps, as the world is likely to be a gainer by them. On the other hand, who does not feel for those gentlemen who spent years of their lives in fruitless researches, all because a Ramsay would not own that he was the author of the "Vision," or a Chatterton that he wrote the "Rowley Manuscripts"? Perhaps the less we say on the matter the better for our author, who certainly deserves enough at our hands to be spared any unnecessary reproaches. There are spots on the sun; our author was not without his. His gravest fault was that he was a dishonest editor. We must not forget, however, that he wrote one of the finest pastorals in any language and

that the authorship of the "Gentle Shepherd" is a passport to immortality as good as any that has been signed of late years.-MACKAY, CHARLES, 1870, ed., The Poetical Works of Allan Ramsay, Life, p. iv.

THE GENTLE SHEPHERD

1725

I spoke of Allan Ramsay's "Gentle Shepherd," in the Scottish dialect, as the best pastoral that had ever been written; not only abounding with beautiful rural imagery, and just and pleasing sentiments, but being a real picture of manners; and I offered to teach Dr. Johnson to understand it. "No, sir," said he; "I won't learn it. You shall retain your superiority by my not knowing it."-JOHNSON, SAMUEL, 1773, Life by Boswell.

The greater part of Ramsay's "Gentle Shepherd" is written in a broad Scotch dialect. The sentiments of that piece are natural, the circumstances interesting; the characters well drawn, well distinguished, and well contrasted; and the fable has more probability than any other pastoral drama I am acquainted with. To an Englishman, who had never conversed with the common people of Scotland, the language would appear only antiquated, obscure, or unintelligible; but to a Scotchman who thoroughly understands it, and is aware of its vulgarity, it appears ludicrous; from the contrast between meanness of phrase, and dignity or seriousness of sentiment. This gives a farcical air even to the most affecting parts of the poem; and occasions an impropriety of a peculiar kind, which is very observable in the representation. And accordingly, this play, with all its merit, and with a strong national partiality in its favour, has never given general satisfaction upon the stage. BEATTIE, JAMES, 1776-9, On Laughter and Ludicrous Composition, Essays on Poetry and Music, p. 382.

It is a great disadvantage to this beautiful poem, that it is written in the old rustic dialect of Scotland, which, in a short time, will probably be entirely obsolete, and not intelligible; and it is a farther disadvantage, that it is so entirely informed on the rural manners of Scotland, that none but a native of that country can thoroughly understand or relish it. But, though subject to those local disadvantages, which confine its reputation within narrow limits, it is full of so much

natural description, and tender sentiment, as would do honour to any poet. The characters are well drawn, the incidents affecting, the scenery and manners lively and just. It affords a strong proof, both of the power which nature and simplicity possess, to reach the heart in every sort of writing; and of the variety of pleasing characters and subjects, with which pastoral poetry, when properly managed, is capable of being enlivened.-BLAIR, HUGH, 1783, Lectures on Rhetoric and BellesLettres, ed. Mills, Lecture xxxix.

Exhibited rusticity without vulgarity, and elegant sentiment without affectation. -ROSCOE, WILLIAM, 1795, Life of Lorenzo de 'Medici.

One of the finest pastoral comedies in any language; and which could have been only produced by art, co-operating with genius, in a propitious moment for shepherdish poetry. — CHALMERS, GEORGE, 1800, ed., The Poems of Allan Ramsay, Life, vol. I, p. xxvii.

To every Englishman, and, I trust, to every Scotsman not of fastitidous refinement, the dialect of the "Gentle Shepherd" will appear to be most perfectly consonant to the characters of the speakers and the times in which the action is laid. To this latter circumstance the critics I have just mentioned seem not to have been sufficiently attentive.. The language of this pastoral is not precisely the Scotish language of the present day: the poet himself spoke the language of the beginning of the century, and his persons were of the age preceding that period. To us their dialect is an antiquated tongue, and, as such, it carries with it a Doric simplicity. But when we consider both the characters and the times, it has an indispensable propriety; and to have given the speakers in the "Gentle Shepherd" a more refined and polished dialect, or more modern tone of conversation, would have been a gross violation of truth and nature. -TYTLER, ALEXANDER FRASER (LORD WOODHOUSELEE), 1800, Remarks on the Genius and Writings of Allan Ramsay, p. c.

The Gentle Shepherd stands quite apart from the general pastoral poetry of modern Europe. It has no satyrs, no featureless simpletons, nor drowsy and still landscapes of nature, but distinct characters and amusing incidents. The principal shepherd never speaks out of consistency

with the habits of a peasant; but he moves in that sphere with such a manly spirit, with so much cheerful sensibility to its humble joys, with maxims of life so rational and independent, and with an ascendancy over his fellow swains so well maintained by his force of character, that if we could suppose the pacific scenes of the drama to be suddenly changed into situations of trouble and danger, we should, in exact consistency with our former idea of him, expect him to become the leader of the peasants, and the Tell of his native hamlet. Nor is the character of his mistress less beautifully conceived. She is represented, like himself, as elevated, by a fortunate discovery, from obscure to opulent life, yet as equally capable of being the ornament of either. A Richardson or a D'Arblay, had they continued her history, might have heightened the portrait, but they would not have altered its outline. Like the poetry of Tasso and Ariosto, that of the "Gentle Shepherd" is engraved on the memory of its native country. Its verses have passed into proverbs; and it continues to be the delight and solace of the peasantry whom it describes.-CAMPBELL, THOMAS, 1819, Specimens of the British Poets.

Shepherd. I hae some thocht o' writing a play-a Pastoral Drama.

North. What, James! after Allan Ramsay-after the "Gentle Shepherd ?"

Shepherd. What for no? That's a stupid apophthegm, though you said it. I wad hae mair variety o' characters, and inceedents, and passions o' the human mind in my drama-mair fun, and frolic, and daffin-in short, mair o' what you, and the like o' you, ca' coorseness;-no sae muckle see-sawing between ony twa individual hizzies, as in Allan; and, aboon a' things, a mair natural and wise-like catastrophe. My peasant or shepherd lads should be sae in richt earnest, and no turn out Sirs and Lords upon you at the hinder end o' the drama. No but that I wad aiblins introduce the upper ranks intil the wark; but they should stand abeigh frae the lave of the characters,-by way o' contrast, or by way o' "similitude in dissimilitude," as that haverer Wordsworth is sae fond o' talking and writing about. Aboon a' things. I wus to draw the pictur o' a perfect and polished Scotch

gentleman o' the auld schule.-WILSON, JOHN, 1825, Noctes Ambrosianæ, ed. Mackenzie, vol. II, p. 60.

One of the most remarkable and truly national Scottish poets is Allan Ramsay, whose "Gentle Shepherd" is perhaps the only modern pastoral which can be compared to the exquisite creations of Theocritus. It is the first successful solution of that difficult problem, to represent rustic manners as they really are, and at the same time so as to make them attractive and graceful. The difficulty of the task will best be appreciated by reflecting on the innumerable failures, from Virgil down to Shenstone, which crowd the annals of literature. But the rustic pictures of Allan Ramsay breathe the freshness of real country life-they have an atmosphere of nature, the breezy freshness of the fields; he has revived the magic of Theocritus, and given us a glimpse into the interior life of the real shepherds, with their artless vigour and unsophisticated feelings.-SHAW, THOMAS B., 1847, Outlines of English Literature, p. 313.

Allan Ramsay is the prince of the homely pastoral drama. Allan

Ramsay is not only entitled to the designation we have given him, but in some respects is the best pastoral writer in the world. .

Allan Ramsay's poem is not only a probable and pleasing story, containing charming pictures, much knowledge of life, and a good deal of quiet humour, but in some respects it may be called classical, if by classical is meant ease, precision, and unsuperfluousness of style. Ramsay's diction is singularly straightforward, seldom needing the assistance of inversions; and he rarely says anything for the purpose of "filling up;" -two freedoms from defect the reverse of vulgar and commonplace; nay, the reverse of a great deal of what pretends to be fine writing, and is received as such. We confess we never tire of dipping into it, "on and off," any more than into Fletcher, or Milton, or into Theocritus. himself, who, for the union of something higher with true pastoral, is unrivalled in short pieces. The "Gentle Shepherd" is not a forest, nor a mountainside, nor Arcady; but it is a field full of daisies, with a brook in it, and a cottage "at the sunny end;" and this we take to be no mean thing, either in the real or the ideal

world. Our Jar of Honey may well lie for a few moments among its heather, albeit filled from Hybla. There are bees, "look you," in Habbie's How. Theocritus and Allan shake hands over a shepherd's pipe.-HUNT, LEIGH, 1848, A Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla, ch. viii.

Allan Ramsay's pastoral play of "The Gentle Shepherd" deserves Hogg's censure, for it has the fault of being in rhyme, which is not the language of common, to say nothing of pastoral, life. The dénouement, accurately described in the text, is forced and unnatural. He scarcely merits the title of "the Scottish Theocritus."-MACKENZIE, R. SHELTON, 1854, ed., Noctes Ambrosiana, vol. II, p. 61, note.

The finest existing specimen of its class. COLLIER, WILLIAM FRANCIS, 1861, A History of English Literature, p. 290.

Any one at all acquainted with the literature of the age in which Ramsay lived, is, on reading for the first time "The Gentle Shepherd," at once struck with its peculiar freshness and naturalness: summer breezes seem to be rushing through its pages, scented with odours of beanblossom and clover. His pictures of country scenery are most life-like and pleasing; his characters talk frankly and openly, without set forms of speech, and without that coarseness which so frequently disfigures the writings of contemporary authors. An excellent piece of dramatic composition, "The Gentle Shepherd" is also a thoroughly genial and satisfactory book for the fire-side, or for a summer afternoon's ramble; the Scotticisms with which it abounds give it an air of quaintness, and rarely obscure the text even for southern readers; while there is throughout a healthy, cheerful tone, refreshing as the blowing of July winds. -BLACK, WILLIAM, 1864, A Poetical Barber, Once a Week, vol. 11, p. 615.

The feelings of our age may be now and then offended by a freedom of speech that borders on coarseness, but that the texture of the poem is stirring and human hearted is proved by the hold it still retains on the Scottish peasantry. If here and there a false note mars the truth of the human manners, as when Scotch Lowland shepherds talk of playing on reeds and flutes, the scenery of "The Gentle Shepherd" is true to Nature as it

is among the Pentland Hills.-SHAIRP, JOHN CAMPBELL, 1877, On Poetic Interpretation of Nature, p. 195.

With genuine freshness and humour, but without a trace of burlesque, transferred to the scenery of the Pentland Hills the lovely tale of Florizel and Perdita. The dramatic form of this poem is only an accident, but it doubtless suggested an experiment of a different kind to the most playful of London wits.-WARD, ADOLPHUS WILLIAM, 1877, Drama, Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. VII.

Though it now reads like a conventional drama, seemed like a breath of fresh air to those who first read it. All the wits of the time admired it, and justly.PERRY, THOMAS SERGEANT, 1883, English Literature in the Eighteenth Century, p. 389.

In his creations the people recognised themselves, and the scenes amid which they moved their every-day life, their loves, their aspirations were all mirrored in its pages. Their emulation was roused,

and Patie and Peggy have lived as an ideal hero and heroine in the minds of many a Scottish lad and lass. It must be remembered that "The Gentle Shepherd" does not pretend to convey any exalted philosophy of life or morals. It is purely and simply a love story, and its "summons" to lads and lasses to "pu' the gowan in its prime" is no more "pagan" than similar advice given in higher quarters. There are, of course, some suggestions of coarseness in it; it would not be the graphic portraiture of peasant life of the eighteenth century that it is, if there were not; but for the time at which it was written it is singularly free from such blemishes, and its teaching is on the side of contentment and virtue.-TULLOCH, W. W., 1886, Allan Ramsay and "The Gentle Shepherd," Good Words, vol. 27, p. 678.

Even Burns had not the universal acceptance, the absolute command of his audience, which belonged to honest Allan. There were politicians and there were ecclesiastics, and good people neither one nor the other, who shook their troubled heads over the ploughman who would not confine himself to the daisy of the field or the Saturday night's observances of the Cottar, but was capable of Holy Willie.

and the Holy Fair. But Ramsay had no gainsayer, and "The Gentle Shepherd' was the first of books in most Lowland homes. Its construction, its language and sentiments, are all as commonplace as could be imagined, but it is a wholesome, natural, pure, and unvarnished tale, and the mind that brought it forth (well aware of what pleased his public) and the public who relished and bought it, give us a better view of the honest thing else which has come to us from tastes and morals of the period than any

that time. There has always been a good deal of drinking, and other vices still less consistent with purity of heart, in Scotland. Now and then we are frightened by statistics that give us a very ill name; but it is difficult to believe that if the national heart had been corrupt "The Gentle Shepherd" could have afforded it such universal and wholesome delight.— OLIPHANT, MRS. MARGARET O. W., 1890, Royal Edinburgh, p. 459.

"The Gentle Shepherd" is the work of a poet, and gives a higher impression of Ramsay's power than his songs alone would warrant.-DENNIS, JOHN, 1894, The Age of Pope, p. 121.

Kindled by the theories and the practice of the English wits and poets, Allan Ramsay wrote real pastoral poetry, exhibiting the customs, the dress, the games, the domestic sorrows, the loves, and the lives of real shepherds. And the "Gentle Shepherd" awoke the genius of Burns. -MINTO, WILLIAM, 1894, The Literature of the Georgian Era, ed. Knight, p. 31.

Deserves praise rather for the intention than for the performance of his "Gentle Shepherd." A very few lines of genuine Scotch landscape are here placed among conventional and uninteresting dialogue; like his songs, his Pastoral does not rise above the trite half-classical phrases from which Burns could not always detach himself.-PALGRAVE, FRANCIS TURNER, 1896, Landscape in Poetry, p. 169.

To the fact that Ramsay has painted Scotland and Scottish rustics as they are, and has not gone to the hermaphrodite and sexless inhabitants of a mythical Golden Age for the characters of his great drama. the heart of every Scot can bear testimony. Neither Burns, supreme though his genius was over his predecessors, nor Scott,

revelling as he did in patriotic sentiments as his dearest possession, can rival Ramsay in the absolute truth wherewith he has He is at one painted Scottish rustic life. and the same time the Teniers and the Claude of Scottish pastoral-the Teniers, in catching with subtle sympathetic insight the precise "moments" and incidents in the life of his characters most suitable for representation; the Claude, for the almost photographic truth of his reproductions of Scottish scenery.-SMEATON, OLIPHANT, 1896, Allan Ramsay.

It is better adapted for the study than for the stage, in large measure because ideal actors for it are simply impossible. The action is slow and languid, and the interest aroused is mainly sentimental. At first it was without songs, and the lyrics afterwards interspersed are not brilliant. The poem is remarkable for its quick and subtle appreciation of rural scenery, customs, and characters; and, if the plot is slightly artificial, the development is skilful and satisfactory. In its honest, straightforward appreciation of beauty in nature and character, and its fascinating presentation of homely customs, it will bear comparison with its author's Italian models, or with similar efforts of Gay.-BAYNE, THOMAS, 1896, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. XLVII, p. 231.

GENERAL

Of poetry the hail quintessence
Thou hast suck'd up, left nae excrescence
To petty poets, or sic messens,

Tho' round thy stool

They may pick crumbs, and lear some lessons At Ramsay's school.

-HAMILTON, WILLIAM, 1719, Epistle to Allan Ramsay.

Ramsay was a man of strong natural parts, and a fine poetical genius, of which his celebrated pastoral, "The Gentle Shepherd," will ever retain a substantial monument; and though some of his songs may be deformed by far-fetched allusions and pitiful conceits, "The Lass of Peattie's Mill," "The Yellow-Hair'd Laddie," "Fairwell to Lochabar," and some others, must be allowed equal to any, and even superior, in point of pastoral simplicity, to most lyric productions, either in the Scotish or any other language. As an editor, he is, perhaps, reprehensible, not only on account of the liberties he appears to have taken with many of the earlier pieces he published, in printing them with additions, which one is unable to distinguish, but also for preferring songs written by himself, or the "ingenious young gentlemen" who assisted him, to ancient and original words, which would, in many cases, all circumstances considered, have been probably superior, or, at least, much more curious, and which are now irretrievable. In short, Ramsay would seem to have had too high an opinion of his own poetry, to be a diligent or faithful publisher of any other person's. -RITSON, JOSEPH, 1794, Scotish Songs. Thou paints auld Nature to the nines, In thy sweet Caledonian lines;

Nae gowden stream thro' myrtles twines,
Where Philomel,

While nightly breezes sweep the vines,
Her griefs will tell;

In gowany glens thy burnie strays,
Where bonnie lasses bleach their claes;
Or trots by hazelly shaws and braes,
Wi' hawthorns gray,

Where blackbirds join the shepherd's lays,
At close o' day.

Thy rural loves are nature's sel';
Nae bombast spates o' nonsense swell;
Nae snap conceits, but that sweet spell

O' witchin' love,

That charm that can the strongest quell,
The sternest move.

-BURNS, ROBERT? 1796? Poem on Pastoral Poetry.

Green be the pillow of honest Allan, at