Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . It is significant that the future poet, whileborn and bred among the peasantry, was farenough removed from them by a strain ofgentler blood to be in the position of ob-server and critic, rather than in that of a comrade. On his fathersside he was related to the Earls of Dalhousie, on his mothers to thegreat Douglas clan. Neither his father nor his mother were nativeto Leadhills, and between Ramsay and the rough mining populationthere could have been little sympathy. He remained in the bleakregion until his sixteenth year, aiding his
Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . It is significant that the future poet, whileborn and bred among the peasantry, was farenough removed from them by a strain ofgentler blood to be in the position of ob-server and critic, rather than in that of a comrade. On his fathersside he was related to the Earls of Dalhousie, on his mothers to thegreat Douglas clan. Neither his father nor his mother were nativeto Leadhills, and between Ramsay and the rough mining populationthere could have been little sympathy. He remained in the bleakregion until his sixteenth year, aiding his stepfather, David Crich-ton, on his farm; he was then apprenticed to an Edinburgh wig-maker, whom he served until 1707, when having received back hisindentures, he began business for himself. The Edinburgh of this period, deprived of its political promi-nence by the Act of Union, passed in 1707, which united England andScotland under the name of Great Britain, gave itself up to certainliterary and social activities, which took concrete form in a variety of. Allan Ramsay T2062 ALLAN RAMSAY clubs. Of one of these, The Easy Club,** Ramsay was made a mem-ber; and it was through its encouragement and stimulus that hispoetical talents bore fruit. He published occasional pieces —((elegies,**as he called them — full of humor and insight into the life of whichhe formed a part. In 1716 appeared the poem which first showedhim to be a master in the portrayal of rustic Scottish life. This was(Christs Kirk on the Green.* King James I. of Scotland had writ-ten a single canto under this title, describing a brawl at a countrywedding. Ramsay supplied a second and a third canto, imitatingso perfectly the spirit and form of the royal authors work that thewhole appears as the work of one hand. In 1725 c The Gentle Shepherd* was published. The immediatecause of its composition is said to have been an article in the Guard-ian for April 7th, 1713; which, taking Popes < Windsor Forest* asits sta
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