1814-1840 THE AYRSHIRE COAST 5 



faculties. A sea -beach strewn with pebbles and 

 shells lay in front of him, with rocks over which he 

 could climb, and pools wherein he might bathe, 

 or watch the movements of the creatures left by 

 the tide. To the south a range of sand-dunes 

 stretched for miles along the coast, mounting into 

 ridges and sinking into hollows, which a young 

 imagination could easily transfigure into ranges of 

 mountains and lines of valley, interspersed with bare 

 sandy plains and recesses that might typify trackless 

 deserts a lonely region, and a very paradise of boy- 

 hood. Then, in the interior, a long sweep of upland 

 rose northward from the shore, commanding from its 

 breezy heights a wide expanse of the Firth of Clyde, 

 with the blue hills of Cantyre and Arran, sometimes even 

 those of the north of Ireland, closing in the distance. 

 On the lower grounds many a dell and ravine served 

 as channels for streams which, haunted by trout and 

 minnow, wandered through woodlands where many a 

 bird built its nest, and where with the changing seasons 

 came the successive attractions of blackthorn, may- 

 blossom, blackberries, wild cherries, and hazel-nuts. 

 There were likewise not a few ruined castles and 

 crumbling peels, which an adventurous boy might 

 climb, and where a contemplative one could find 

 material for many a pleasant reverie. We can hardly 

 doubt that surroundings such as these must have quick- 

 ened in young Ramsay that love of nature, that delight 

 in antiquities, and that devotion to out-of-door pursuits 

 which formed such strong features in his character. 



From Saltcoats he was eventually brought back to 

 Glasgow, to continue his education at the Grammar 

 School there. Mr. James King, probably his only 

 surviving schoolmate, has kindly supplied the 



