KAMSAY. 



exists; and is now perlaps tlie most extensive of 

 the kind in Britain. Mis tirst shop, as we learn 

 from the imprint of some of his lx>oks. was, " at the 

 ,.t iiu- Mi miry, opposite to Niddry's Wynd ;" 

 Inn in 17^6, he removed to a house at the east end 

 i>f the Luckfiihooths, and, instead of Mercury, 

 adopted i'or his sign tlie heads of lien Johnson and 

 Driiiumoml of Hawthoriulen. In 1720, he published 

 a collection of his poems, in one vol. quarto, which 

 was so liberally subscribed for, that lie is said to 

 have cleared by it 400 guineas. The greater part 

 of the pieces in this collection had previously ap- 

 leared, at different periods, in the form of sheets or 

 half sheets ; and so popular had their author be- 

 ome, that it was quite customary for the good peo- 

 ple of Edinburgh to send their children with coppers 

 for " Allan Ramsay's last piece." In 1724, the first 

 volume of " The Tea-Table Miscellany, a Collec- 

 tion of Songs," appeared, which was soon followed 

 by a second and third volume. The rapid sale of 

 this compilation induced Ramsay to publish another, 

 entitled, " The Evergreen, being a Collection of 

 Scots poems wrote by the Ingenious before 1600," 

 which was equally successful. His next publication, 

 established his fame upon a sure and lasting basis. 

 In 1725, appeared " The Gentle Shepherd" the 

 best pastoral perhaps in any language. Its success 

 was instantaneous and unprecedented ; edition fol- 

 lowed edition with great rapidity ; and it was not 

 long till it was known by every lover of poetry, and 

 what bespeaks a higher popularity till it had 

 taken a place on the shelf of almost every cottage 

 in Scotland. In 1728, a second quarto volume of 

 liis poems appeared; and in 1730, his "Thirty 

 Fables," which concluded his public poetical la- 

 bours. The " Fables" are undoubtedly the best of 

 Ramsay's lesser productions. Among them stands 

 " The Monk and the Miller's JVife /" a story which, 

 although previously told by D unbar, "would of 

 itself," as a competent judge has remarked, " be 

 Ramsay's passport to immortality as a comic poet." 

 He was now at the height of his celebrity : his ac- 

 quaintance was courted by many distinguished in- 

 dividuals, and his shop was the common resort of 

 the literary characters and wits of Edinburgh. An 

 extract from a letter to a friend, which he wrote 

 al mi a this period, gives us a very enviable view of 

 his later years : " Half a century of years have 

 now rowed o'er my pow, that begins now to be 

 lyart ; yet, thanks to my author ! I eat, drink, and 

 sleep, as sound as 1 did twenty years syne. Yes, I 

 laugh heartily too, and find as many subjects to em- 

 ploy that faculty upon as ever Fools, fops, and 

 knaves, grow as rank as formerly ; yet here and 

 there are to be found good and worthy men, who 



are an honour to human life Mygude auld wife 



is still my bed-fellow. My son, Allan,* has been 

 pursuing your science [painting] since he was a 

 dozen years auld," &c " I have three daugh- 

 ters, one of seventeen, one of sixteen, and one of 

 twelve years old ; and no waly-draggle among them 

 all fine girls. These six or seven years past I 

 have not written a line of poetry. I e'en gave over 

 in good time, before the coolness of fancy, that at- 

 tends advanced years, should make me risk the re- 

 putation I had acquired." In 1736, he took a 

 principal part in the erection of a theatre in Carub- 

 ber's Close, by which he came to considerable 

 pecuniary Ins-, ; and it is remarked by his biogra- 

 phers, that this was perhaps the only unfortunate 

 project in which he ever was engaged. In 1743, 



* Who Bft<TM-nrd l>ecame n dist'ni;uihpd portrait painter 

 m^ well a Intelligent political writer. He was horn in 1700 

 ana died in 1784. 



Ins wife died, to whom lie had been married almve 

 thirty jears ; antl soon after this, with the idea of 

 relinquishing hia shop, he built a house on the north 

 side of Castle-hill, in ratner a whimsical style of 

 architecture. Here he spent the last twelve years 

 of his life in a calm and pleasant manner ; although 

 he did not give up his shop until within three years of 

 his decease. He died on the 7th January, 1758, aged 

 seventy-two ; and was buried in Greyfriars' Church- 

 yard, where a monument to his memory is erected. 



RAMSAY, ANDREW MICHAEL, better known by 

 the name of the Chevalier de Ramsay, was born in 

 Ayr, in 1686. He was the son of a baker in opu- 

 lent circumstances, who was able to give him a 

 good education. After spending some time at the 

 universities of Edinburgh and St Andrews, he went 

 to Leyden, the university of which was at that time 

 the common resort of the literary youth of Scotland. 

 In 1710, he repaired to Cambray, on a visit to the 

 celebrated Fenelon, who received him into his house 

 as an inmate of the family, and by whom lie was 

 persuaded to embrace the Catholic faith. Pension's 

 influence procured him the preceptorship to the 

 duke de Chateau-Thiery and the prince de Turenne. 

 He was afterwards engaged to superintend the edu- 

 cation of Prince Charles Edward Stuart and his 

 brother Henry, afterwards Cardinal de York, and 

 for this purpose he removed from Paris to Rome in 

 1724. Later in life, he visited his native country . 

 and offered to settle a handsome annuity on his re- 

 lations, which they refused to accept, on the ground 

 of his having renounced the Protestant faith. He 

 died, while residing with the family of Marshal 

 Turenne, at St Germain en Laye, on the 6th May, 

 1743. The Chevalier de Ramsay, during his life, 

 published several works, which give him a respect- 

 able place both in French and English literature. 

 The chief of these are, a Life of Viscount Turenne, 

 a Life of Fenelon, the Travels of Cyrus, and a large, 

 work on the principles of Natural and Revealed 

 Religion. 



RAMSAY, DAVID, M. D., an eminent American 

 physician and popular historian, was born April 2, 

 1749, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His 

 father was an Irish emigrant, and a resp.ectable 

 farmer. He studied medicine in Philadelphia, till the 

 year 1772, when he commenced the practice of his 

 profession in Maryland, and, after a year, removed 

 to Charleston, South Carolina, where he soon ac- 

 quired celebrity. He laboured zealously with his 

 pen to promote the independence of his country. 

 For sometime he attended the army in the capacity 

 of a surgeon, and was at the siege of Savannah. 

 He was a leading member of the legislature of 

 South Carolina, from 1776 to the conclusion of the 

 war. In 1782, he was elected a member of the con- 

 tinental congress, and continued in that body till the 

 close of the war. In 1 785, he was elected to repre- 

 sent the Charleston district in congress, and, was 

 chosen its president, pro tempore. In the follow- 

 ing year, he again returned to his profession, and 

 his literary pursuits. In 1785, he published a his- 

 tory of the revolution in South Carolina, which was 

 translated and published in France. In 1790. he 

 published the History of the American Revolution, 

 which passed through two large editions ; in 1801, 

 the Life of Washington ; in 1808, the History of 

 South Carolina. He also left, among his manuscripts, 

 a History of the United States, from their first set- 

 tlement as English colonies to the end of the year 

 1808 ; and a series of historical volumes, entitled 

 Universal History Americanized, or an Historical 

 View of the World, from the earliest Records to the 

 Nineteenth Century, with a particular Reference to 

 the State of Society, Literature, Religion, and Form 



