Allan Ramsay. [A biography.] - National Library of Scotland

ALLAN RAMSAY loi
drawing of The Gentle Shepherd touched, with a power
and a pathos almost overwhelming, the subtlest fibres
of that love for 'Caledonia, stern and wild,' which,
deepened by distance as it is, and strengthened by
absence, seems so inwoven with the very warp and woof
of the nature of her children that, go where they will, it
can never be eradicated, until the last great consumma-
tion overtakes them, when earth returns to earth, ashes
to ashes, and dust to dust.
Our poet now had more time on his hands for those
social duties and convivial pleasures wherein he took
such delight. His new premises in the Luckenbooths,
facing down towards, and therefore commanding a full
view of, the magnificent thoroughfare of the High Street,
were immediately opposite the ancient octagonal-shaped
Cross of Edinburgh, where all official proclamations
were made. The vicinity of the Cross was, on favourable
afternoons, the fashionable rendezvous of the period.
No sooner was the midday dinner over, than the fair
ladies and gallants of the town—the former in the wide
hoops, the jewelled stomachers, the silken capuchins
(cloaks), the bongraces (hoods), and high head-dresses of
the day; the latter in the long, embroidered coats,
knee-breeches, silk stockings, and buckled shoes, tye-
wigs, and three-cornered hats peculiar to the fourth
decade of last century—issued from their dingy turnpike
stairs in the equally darksome closes, pends, and wynds,
to promenade or lounge, as best pleased them, in the
open space around the Cross. Here were to be met all
sorts and conditions of men and women. Viewed from
the first storey of the building wherein Allan Ramsay's
shop was situated, the scene must have been an exceed-