t^gi:, OM ALLAN RAMSAY* 57 



critic, Ramfay " .was hot a man who could become 

 *' racws by. a .mean employment f ." 



Latirence-hirh, Timothy THUNDEP.rROOF, 



I2th Sept. 1 79 1. 



The foregoing remarks, in as far as they fefpcfl: the 

 impropriety of adopting local phrafes that are not ge- 

 nerally known, and much more efpecially, in guard- 

 ing againft the irnproper ufe of thefe phrafes, (a thing 

 too often little attended to bv writers in the Scottilh 

 dialed) will be univerCally admitted as juft, and highly .. 

 dcferving the attention of every writer. It is alfo be- 

 lieved, that fcv/ perfons who are acquainted with the 

 .Scottilh dialect will difpute the juftnefs of the eulo- 

 gium on the Gentle Shepherd ; xvhichj in regard to 

 purity of language, (lands unrivalled in this country ; 

 and in refpeft to a jufl and natural delineation of rural 

 characters, amiable from their native fimplicrty of 

 manners, equally devoid of a quaint affectation of deli- 

 cacy on the one hand, or rude rulticity on the other, 

 admits not of a parallel in any age or country, if fomc 

 of Shakefpeare's rural fcenes be excepted. But as ta^ 

 the further remarks contained in the above critique, 

 opinions will dilTer ; — and much may be faid on both 

 fides. It is not a little remarkable, however, that 

 Allan Ramfay, who is fo fmgularly chafte in the ufe 

 of the -Scottilh dialect in the Gentle Shepherd, is in 

 liis other v/ritings equally licentious in his application 

 of Scottilb phrafes as moft of the writers who have 

 fucceeded him. llais circumftance has perhaps tended 

 more to cherifn the idea that he was indebted to others 

 for the principal excellencies of this work, than all 

 others put together. But though none of his other 

 works can be equalled to this admirable drama, there 

 runs through the whole of them a rich vein of poetic 



f T<-'linro!i's Life of Miltor., 



Vol. V. It 



t 



