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

ALLAN RAMSAY 109
which day they shall receive their tickets from Allan Ramsay, on
paying 30s., no more than forty to be subscribed for; after which
none will be disposed of under two guineas.'
Meantime the clerical party and the enemies of
Ramsay had joined hands in common opposition to his
plans. ' Hardly had he begun operations ' (writes
Professor Masson) * when there came the extraordinary
statute of 10 Geo. II. (1737), regulating theatres for the
future all over Great Britain. As by this statute, there
could be no performance of stage plays out of London
and Westminster, save when the king chanced to be
residing in some other town, Ramsay's speculation
collapsed.' In fact, the municipal authorities, at the
instigation of the clergy, employed the force of the
statute peremptorily to close his theatre. In vain he
appealed to law. ' He only received a quibble for his
pains. He was injured without being damaged,' said
the lawyers. In vain he appealed in a poetical epistle, to
President Duncan Forbes of the Court of Session, wherein
he says
—
* Is there aught better than the stage
To mend the follies o' the age,
If managed as it ought to be,
Frae ilka vice and blaidry free?
Wherefore, my Lords, I humbly pray
Our lads may be allowed to play,
At least till new-house debts be paid off,
The cause that I'm the maist afraid of;
Which lade lyes on my single back,
And I maun pay it ilka plack.'
Well might the good-hearted, honourable-minded poet
dread the future. The responsibility lay upon him alone
for the expense of the building, and from many intima-