The Gentle Shepherd: A Pastoral Comedy Part 3

[Footnote 28: Over.]

[Footnote 29: Shoulder.]

[Footnote 30: White.]

[Footnote 31: Waving locks of hair.]

His _Tales_ and _Fables_, a species of writing which he himself deemed as "casten for his share," display great ease and readiness of versification, with much comic vivacity. The best of these are the _Twa Cats and the Cheese_; the _Lure_, in which the Falconer's "foregathering with auld Symmie" is excellently described; and the _Monk and the Miller's Wife_, for the story of which he is indebted to Dunbar. As a song writer we are not inclined to give Ramsay a very high place. His mind had not those deep and energetic workings of feeling that fitted Burns so admirably for this difficult species of writing. He is stiff, where pa.s.sion is required; and is most easy, as usual, where he is comic. Several of his songs yet retain their popularity; but even of these none are without some faults. We prefer the Highland Laddie, Gie me a La.s.s wi' a Lump o' Land, The Carle he came o'er the Craft, The La.s.s of Patie's Mill and Jenny Nettles.

His _Christ's Kirk_ is no mean effort of his muse; the idea of continuing King James's production was good, and he has executed it happily. Ramsay's humour must, however, be acknowledged to be inferior to the pure, strong, irresistible merriment that shines even through the dim and nearly obsolete language of his royal master. In the _Third Canto_, the morning, with its effect on the c.r.a.pulous a.s.semblage, is well painted.

_Now frae east nook o' Fife the dawn Speel'd[32] westlins up the lift_, Carles wha heard the c.o.c.k had crawn Begoud, &c.

An' greedy wives, wi' girning thrawn, Cry'd la.s.ses up to thrift; Dogs barked, an' the lads frae hand Bang'd[33] to their breeks,[34] like drift, Be break o' day

[Footnote 32: Climbed.]

[Footnote 33: Started up from bed.]

[Footnote 34: Breeches.]

Of a character similar to the first two lines of the above stanza, are the following other pa.s.sages of Ramsay's works, which remind us a little of the Italian poets;--

Now Sol wi' his lang whip gae cracks Upon his nichering coosers'[35] backs, _To gar them tak th' Olympian brae, Wi' a cart-lade o' bleezing day_.

[Footnote 35: Stallions.]

_Tale of the Three Bonnets._

And ere the sun, though he be dry, Has driven down the westlin sky, To drink his wamefu' o' the sea.

_Fables and Tales._

Soon as the clear goodman o' day Does bend his morning draught o' dew.

_Fables and Tales._

To sum up our opinion of Ramsay's merits as a poet--he was fortunate, and he deserved well, in being the first to redeem the Muse of Scotland from wasting her strength in a dead language, which, since the _days_ of Buchanan, had been the freezing vehicle of her exertions. He re-established the popularity of a dialect, which, since the removal of the Scottish Court, had received no honour from the pen of genius, but which, near two hundred years before, had been sublimed into poetical dignity by Dunbar and the bards of that age. To Ramsay, and to his treasures of Scottish phraseology, succeeding poets have been much indebted; he knew the language well, and had imbibed the facetious and colloquial spirit of its idioms. Ramsay, therefore, when he employs his beloved dialect, manages it masterly, and, though never lofty, he is always at his ease: Burns, in his highest flights, soared out of it. The genius of the first was pleasing, placid, versatile, in quest rather of knacks, and felicities of expression, than originating bold and masculine thoughts: The genius of the latter was richer, more original, more impressive, and formidable, but less equal, and less careful of the niceties and tricks of phraseology. The tone of Ramsay's mind was good-humoured composure, and facile pleasantry; of Burns's, intensity of feeling, tenderness, and daring elevation approaching to sublimity. Of Burns's superiority no man is doubtful; but Ramsay's merits will not be forgotten; and the names of _both_ will be forever cherished by the lovers of Scottish poetry.

ESSAY

ON

RAMSAY'S GENTLE SHEPHERD.

BY LORD WOODHOUSELEE.

As the writings of _Allan Ramsay_ have now stood the test of the public judgment, during more than seventy years;[36] and, in the opinion of the best critics, he seems to bid fair to maintain his station among our poets, it may be no unpleasing, nor uninstructive employment, to examine the grounds, on which that judgment is founded; to ascertain the rank, which he holds in the scale of merit; and to state the reasons, that may be given, for a.s.signing him that distinguished place among the original poets of his country, to which I conceive he is ent.i.tled.

[Footnote 36: Written in 1800.]

The genius of Ramsay was original; and the powers of his untutored mind were the gift of nature, freely exercising itself within the sphere of its own observation. Born in a wild country, and accustomed to the society of its rustic inhabitants, the poet's talents found their first exercise in observing the varied aspects of the mountains, rivers, and vallies; and the no less varied, though simple manners, of the rude people, with whom he conversed. He viewed the former with the enthusiasm which, in early childhood, is the inseparable attendant of genius; and on the latter he remarked, with that sagacity of discriminating observation, which instructed the future moralist, and gave the original intimations to the contemporary satirist. With this predisposition of mind, it is natural to imagine, that the education, which he certainly received, opened to him such sources of instruction as English literature could furnish; and his kindred talents directed his reading chiefly to such of the _poets_ as occasion threw in his way.

Inheriting that ardour of feeling, which is generally accompanied with strong sentiments of moral excellence, and keenly awake even to those slighter deviations from propriety, which const.i.tute the foibles of human conduct, he learned, as it were from intuition, the glowing language, which is best fitted for the scourge of vice; as well as the biting ridicule, which is the most suitable corrective of gross impropriety, without deviating into personal lampoon.

A consciousness of his own talents induced _Ramsay_ to aspire beyond the situation of a mere mechanic; and the early notice, which his first poetical productions procured him, was a natural motive for the experiment of a more liberal profession, which connected him easily with those men of wit, who admired, and patronised him. As a book-seller, he had access to a more respectable cla.s.s in society. We may discern, in the general tenor of his compositions, a respectful demeanour towards the great, and the rich, which, though it never descends to adulation or servility, and generally seeks for an apology in some better endowments than mere birth or fortune, is yet a sensible mark, that these circ.u.mstances had a strong influence on his mind.

As he extended the sphere of his acquaintance, we may presume, that his knowledge of men, and acquaintance with manners, were enlarged; and, in his latter compositions, we may discern a sufficient intelligence of those general topics, which engaged the public attention. The habits of polite life, and the subjects of fashionable conversation, were become familiar, at this time, to the citizens of Edinburgh, from the periodical papers of _Addison_ and _Steele_; and the wits of _Balfour's_ Coffee-house, _Forrester_, _Falconer_, _Bennet_, _Clerk_, _Hamilton_ of Bangour, _Preston_, and _Crawford_,[37] were a miniature of the society, which was to be met with at _Will's_ and _b.u.t.ton's_.

[Footnote 37: To the last three of these we owe the words of some of the best of the Scotish songs, which are to be found in the collection published by Ramsay, called _The Tea-table Miscellany_.]

The political principles of _Ramsay_ were those of an old Scotsman, proud of his country, delighted to call to mind its ancient honours, while it held the rank of a distinct kingdom, and attached to the succession of its ancient princes. Of similar sentiments, at that time, were many of the Scotish gentry. The chief friends of the poet were probably men, whose sentiments on those subjects agreed with his own; and the Easy Club, of which he was an original member, consisted of youths who were anti-unionists. Yet, among the patrons of _Ramsay_, were some men of rank, who were actuated by very different principles, and whose official situation would have made it improper for them, openly, to countenance a poet, whose opinions were obnoxious to the rulers of his country. Of this he was aware; and putting a just value on the friendship of those distinguished persons, he learnt to be cautious in the expression of any opinions, which might risk the forfeiture of their esteem: hence he is known to have suppressed some of his earlier productions, which had appeared only in ma.n.u.script; and others, which prudence forbad him to publish, were ushered into the world without his name, and even with false signatures. Among the former was a poem to the memory of the justly celebrated _Dr.

Pitcairne_, which was printed by the Easy Club, but never published; and among the latter, is _The Vision_, which he printed in the _Evergreen_, with the signature of AR. SCOT.[38]

[Footnote 38: See _Observations on The Vision_, by William Tytler, Esq., of Woodhouselee, in the first volume of the Transactions of Scotish Antiquaries; where that poem, and The Eagle and Robin Redbreast, are proved to be both written by Allan Ramsay.]

In Ramsay's _Vision_, the author, in order to aid the deception, has made use of a more antiquated phraseology, than that, which we find in his other Scotish poems: but, it evidently appears from this attempt, and from the two cantos, which he added to _King James the First's_ ludicrous satire of _Christ's Kirk on the Green_, that _Ramsay_ was not much skilled in the ancient Scotish dialect. Indeed the Glossary, which he annexed to the two quarto volumes of his poems, wherein are many erroneous interpretations, is of itself sufficient proof of this a.s.sertion. In compiling the Glossary of his Evergreen, _Lord Hailes_ has remarked, that he does not seem ever to have consulted the Glossary to _Douglas's Virgil_; "and yet they who have not consulted it, cannot acquire a competent knowledge of the ancient Scotish dialect, unless by infinite and ungrateful labour."[39] A part of this labour undoubtedly may be ascribed to _Ramsay_, when he selected and transcribed, from the _Bannatyne ma.n.u.script_, those ancient poems, which chiefly compose the two volumes of his _Evergreen_: and hence, it is probable, he derived the most of what he knew of the older dialect of his country. His own stock was nothing else than the oral language of the farmers of the _Lothians_, and the common talk of the citizens of Edinburgh, to which his ears were constantly accustomed. A Scotsman, in the age of Ramsay, generally _wrote_ in English; that is, he imitated the style of the English writers; but when he _spoke_, he used the language of his country. The sole peculiarity of the style of Ramsay is, that he transferred the oral language to his writings. He could write, as some of his compositions evince, in a style which may be properly termed English verse; but he wrote with more ease in the Scotish dialect, and he preferred it, as judging, not unreasonably, that it conferred a kind of Doric simplicity, which, when he wished to paint with fidelity the manners of his countrymen, and the peculiarities of the lower orders, was extremely suitable to such subjects.

[Footnote 39: I am convinced, however, from a comparison of many of Ramsay's interpretations, both in the Glossary to the _Evergreen_, printed in 1724, and in that, which is subjoined to his _Poems_, with the interpretations given by Ruddiman in the Glossary to _G. Douglas's Virgil_, that Ramsay had made frequent use of the latter for the explanation of the most antiquated words; though he does not seem to have studied it with that care, which his duty as an editor of ancient Scotish poetry certainly required. In proof of this, his obligations to Ruddiman's Glossary, the reader has only to compare, with the interpretations in that work, the following, given by Ramsay in the Glossary to his Poems: _Bodin_, _Brankan_, _Camschough_, _Dern_, _Douks_, _Dynles_, _Elritch_, _Ettle_, _Freck_, _Gousty_, _Moup_, _Pawky_, _Withershins_; and the following, in the Glossary to the Evergreen: _Crawdon_, _Galziart_, _Ithandly_, _Ourefret_, _Ruse_, _Schent_, &c.]

From these considerations, one cannot but wonder at the observation, which is sometimes made even by Scotsmen of good taste, that the language of _The Gentle Shepherd_ disgusts from its vulgarity. It is true, that in the present day, the Scotish dialect is heard only in the mouths of the lowest of the populace, in whom it is generally a.s.sociated with vulgarity of sentiment; but those critics should recollect, that it was the language of the Scotish people, which was to be imitated, and that too of the people upwards of a century ago, if we carry our mind back to the epoch of the scene.

If _Ramsay_ had made the shepherds of the Lowlands of Scotland, in the middle of the seventeenth century, speak correct English, how preposterous would have been such a composition! But, with perfect propriety, he gave them the language which belonged to them; and if the sentiments of the speakers be not reproachable with unnecessary vulgarity, we cannot with justice a.s.sociate vulgarism with a dialect, which in itself is proper, and in its application is characteristic.

After all, what is the language of Ramsay, but the common speech of Yorkshire during the last century?[40]

[Footnote 40: See "A Yorkshire Dialogue in its pure natural dialect;"

printed at York, 1684.]

But, as a.s.sociated ideas arise only where the connection is either in itself necessary, or the relation is so intimate, the two ideas are seldom found disunited; so of late years, that disunion has taken place in a twofold manner; for the language, even of the common people of Scotland, is gradually refining, and coming nearer to the English standard; and it has fortunately happened, that the Scotish dialect has lately been employed in compositions of transcendant merit, which have not only exhibited the finest strokes of the pathetic, but have attained even to a high pitch of the sublime. For the truth of this observation, we may appeal to _The Cotter's Sat.u.r.day Night_, and _The Vision of Burns_. In these, the language, so far from conveying the idea of vulgarity, appears most eminently suited to the sentiment, which seems to derive, from its simplicity, additional tenderness, and superior elevation.

The Scots, and the English, languages are, indeed, nothing more than different dialects of the same radical tongue, namely, the Anglo-Saxon; and, setting prejudice apart, (which every preference, arising from such a.s.sociations, as we have mentioned, must be,) it would not perhaps be difficult, on a fair investigation of the actual merits of both the dialects, to a.s.sert the superior advantages of the Scotish to the English, for many species of original composition. But a discussion of this kind would lead too far; and it is but incidentally connected with the proper subject of these remarks.[41]

It is enough to say, that the merits of those very compositions, on which we are now to offer some remarks, are of themselves a sufficient demonstration of the powers of that language in which, chiefly, they are composed, for many, if not for all the purposes of poetry.

[Footnote 41: A learned writer has published, in the Transactions of the Society of Scotish Antiquaries, a Dissertation on the Scoto-Saxon Dialect; of which, as the work is not in every body's hands, the reader may not be displeased with a short account. The author maintains this proposition; that the Scoto-Saxon dialect was, at the time of the union of the two nations, equal in every respect, and in some respects superior, to the Anglo-Saxon dialect. He lays it down as a principle, that three things const.i.tute the perfection, or rather the relative superiority, of a language: richness, energy, and harmony. He observes, that a language is rich in proportion to the copiousness of its vocabulary, which will princ.i.p.ally depend, 1. on the number of its primitive or radical words; 2. on the multiplicity of its derivations and compounds; and, 3. on the variety of its inflections. In all, or almost all of these respects, he shows the superiority of the Scotish dialect of the Saxon to the English. The Scots have all the English primitives, and many hundreds besides. The Scots have derivatives from diminution, which the English entirely want: e. g. _hat_, _hatty_, _hattiky_; _la.s.s_, _la.s.sie_, _la.s.siky_.

The degrees of diminution are almost unlimited: _wife_, _wifie_, _wifiky_, _wee wifiky_, _wee wee wifiky_, &c. Both the English, and Scots, dialects are poor in the inflections; but the Glossary to Douglas's Virgil will shew that the Scotish inflections are both more various, and less anomalous, than the English. Energy is the boast both of the English, and the Scotish, dialects; but, in this author's opinion, the Scotish poetry can furnish some compositions of far superior energy to any cotemporary English production. With respect to harmony, he gives his suffrage likewise in favour of the Scotish dialect. He observes, that the _sh_ rarely occurs; its place being supplied by the simple _s_, as in _polis_, _punis_, _sal_, &c. The _s_ itself is often supplied by the liquids _m_ or _n_; as in _expreme_, _depreme_; _compone_, _depone_. Harsh combinations of consonants are avoided: as in using _sel_, _twal_, _neglek_, _temp_, _stown_ or _stawn_, for _self_, _twelve_, _neglect_, _tempt_, _stolen_. Even the vowel sounds are, in this author's opinion, more harmonious, in the Scots, than in the English, dialect; as the open _a_, and the proper Italic sound of _i_. For further elucidation of this curious subject, the Dissertation itself must be referred to, which will abundantly gratify the critical reader. It is proper here to observe, that the remarks of this writer are the more worthy of attention, that he is himself an excellent Scotish poet, as the compositions subjoined to his Dissertation clearly evince. _Three Scotish Poems, with a previous Dissertation on the Scoto-Saxon Dialect, by the Rev. Alexander Geddes, LL.D., Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, vol.

i., p. 402.]

(_Remarks on Ramsay's miscellaneous poems are here omitted._)

In the year 1725, _Ramsay_ published his pastoral comedy of _The Gentle Shepherd_, the n.o.blest and most permanent monument of his fame.

A few years before, he had published, in a single sheet, _A Pastoral Dialogue between Patie and Roger_, which was reprinted in the first collection of his poems, in 1721. This composition being much admired, his literary friends urged him to extend his plan to a regular drama: and to this fortunate suggestion the literary world is indebted for one of the most perfect pastoral poems that has ever appeared.[42]

[Footnote 42: In the quarto of 1728, the following note is subjoined to the first scene of the Gentle Shepherd:--"This first scene is the only piece in this volume that was printed in the first: having carried the pastoral the length of five acts, at the desire of some persons of distinction, I was obliged to print this preluding scene with the rest."]