290 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
his great-uncle, the then Sir Alexander Ramsay, who placed him 
at school in a small village near his own residence, Harlsey, in 
Yorkshire. The locality was a very retired one, and old customs 
lingered there which time had changed or obliterated in other 
parts of England. The Bible lay chained to the desk in the 
parish church, as in the days of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth. 
The bodies of the deceased were carried to the quiet churchyard 
by those of their own sex, age, and condition. The village girls 
bore their companions, the boys their schoolfellows, the young 
men and women, the middle-aged and the old, their contemporaries 
and associates who had been called away. The parish curate 
dined with the squire every Sunday, hut did not omit to drink 
to the health of the old butler who waited at table, as well of 
his host, and the other guests. The village carpenter, a strange 
character, forestalled Archbishop Whately’s historic doubts as to 
the existence of Napoleon Buonaparte, and boldly declared that he 
did not believe there was any such person. His conviction was that 
the name was used to frighten children, and to terrify the British 
nation into keeping up the army and navy, and paying the very 
heavy taxes imposed upon them. From this primitive spot, where 
doubtless his powers of observation and his interest in localpeculiari- 
ties were first awakened by the circumstances just mentioned, which 
he never forgot, Ramsay was transferred to the G-rammar School 
at Durham. Here, as he often stated with regret, he was taught 
little and learnt less. After leaving Durham, he was a pupil 
for a short time of Dr Joynes, a clergyman at Sandwich in Kent, 
and then entered St John’s College, Cambridge, where he took 
his degree in 1816. Although not distinguished in any remark- 
able way as a scholar or mathematician in the University, Mr 
Ramsay seems to have felt satisfied with the result of more than 
one of the College examinations, and he obtained during his 
residence at St John’s a scholarship on that learned foundation. 
Within a very short period after taking his degree, he received a 
title for holy orders as curate of Rodden in Somersetshire ; and was 
ordained by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Deacon in December 
1816, and Priest in the following year. When acting in after 
life as examiner of candidates for the ministry, he frequently 
drew a comparison between the meagre superficial examinations, 
