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ALLAN
RAMSAY
ALLAN
RAMSAY
BY
OLIPHANT
SMEATON
FAMOUS
·SCOTS·
·SERIES·
PUBLISHED BY
OLIPHANT ANDERSON
& FERRIER · EDINBURGH
AND LONDON
The designs and ornaments of this volume are by Mr. Joseph Brown,and the printing from the press of Messrs. Morrison & Gibb,Edinburgh.
TO
DAVID MASSON, LL.D.
EMERITUS-PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ENGLISH LITERATURE
IN EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED
in grateful acknowledgment of kindly encouragement given
in years long gone by, and of intellectual stimulus
received from him by his former student
THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
Since this Volume was in type, I have received some additionalinformation which I feel constrained to lay before my readers.
With reference to the Easy Club, I have been favoured, through thecourtesy of the Rev. Dr. A. B. Grosart, with a sight of the completeMinutes of the Club. From them I observe that Ramsay was one of theearliest members admitted, and that his song 'Were I but a Prince orKing' was formally presented to the Club after his admission not before,though its rough draft must have been shown to the members prior to thatevent.
Next, as regards the Editions of The Gentle Shepherd, a valuedcorrespondent, Mr. J. W. Scott, Dowanhill, Glasgow, kindly calls myattention to two 'Translations into English' of the Poem which appear tohave hitherto escaped notice. These are 'Allan Ramsay's GentleShepherd, translated into English by W. Ward, 8vo, 1785.' Ward, as Mr.Scott states, seems to have been a 'naturalised Englishman' residing atMusselburgh. Five years after Ward's production, appeared another, andin many respects a better Edition, to wit, 'The Gentle Shepherd, aScotch Pastoral by Allan Ramsay, Attempted in English by MargaretTurner, London, 1790.' It was dedicated to the Prince of Wales, and itslist of Subscribers contains the names of most of the nobility ofScotland. Is this not a reliable gauge of the popularity of the Poem?
Edinburgh, March 1896.
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