294 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
“ Reminiscences ” as one of the links which will continue to bind 
his heart to his own country, and to keep alive in his memory the 
most vivid and pleasing recollections of her history and people. The 
object of the book was not to produce a mere momentary amuse- 
ment, hut to contribute to an important branch of historical science, 
the neglect of which has left us too ignorant of what our fore- 
fathers and their times really were. It was intended to preserve 
the remembrance of old Scottish customs, and of national peculiari- 
ties and characteristics, the traces of which, in many respects to 
our loss, are fast dying out. That jocular sayings and anecdotes 
should prove the staple of the work was an accident, or rather 
I might say a necessity, and not an arbitrary choice of the author. 
It may have its literary faults. But many of us were too partial 
to the man, too much in sympathy with his purpose and with 
the genuine, kindly, patriotic motives which guided his pen, to 
dwell on them. Nay more, critics have been slow to point them 
out, and the judgment of the public has done more than condone 
them. It may not be too much to apply to the “ Beminiscences ” the 
language which the greatest Scottish novelist has used with regard 
to his own works, and to say that the Dean was happy in the know- 
ledge that the perusal of his book has amused hours of relaxation 
and relieved those of languor, pain, and anxiety, and that it has 
contributed in no small degree to the happiness and instruction of 
his fellow-countrymen. It is no little credit, the Dean felt it 
to have been a great privilege, to have followed, however humbly, 
in the footsteps of Sir Walter Scott, and to have added to the 
literature of his country a volume which must always serve to 
make Scotland better known, appreciated, and loved, wherever it is 
read. 
We may not intrude into the sacred domestic circle to find 
material for this biographical notice ; it may suffice to say that 
those who knew Dean Ramsay best loved him best. He was 
honoured above most men with the friendship of the good and 
great. Dignified ecclesiastics, eminent statesmen, nobles of cha- 
racter and renown no less exalted than their rank, sought and 
valued his acquaintance, his wise counsels, his kindly sympathy. 
Men of distinction and repute from all quarters found a welcome 
under his roof, and never left it without feeling that they had 
added to their circle of life-long friends. 
