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

ALLAN RAMSAY 115
should break doon a'thegither into my second bairn-
hood.' Alas ! poor Allan !
But his daughters, realising to the full the part that
now devolved on them, stepped into the gap left in his
domestic circle. Nobly they fulfilled their duty, and
amongst the most affecting tributes Ramsay paid, is that
to the filial affection of * his girls,' over v/hom, after their
mother had gone from them, he watched with a wealth
of paternal love and an anxious solicitude, as unsparing
as it was unremitting.
And thus did the life of Allan Ramsay roll quietly
onward through placid reaches of domestic and social
happiness, during the closing fourteen years of existence.
Though he did not formally retire from business until
1755, ^^ l^^t ^t almost entirely in the hands of capable
subordinates. He had worked hard in his day, and now,
as he said
—
' I the best and fairest please,
A little man that lo'es my ease,
And never thole these passions lang
That rudely mint to do me wrang.'
Accordingly, he lived quietly in the ' goose-pie,' * fauld-
ing his limbs in ease,' and absolutely refusing to concern
hims-elf with anything political, social, or ecclesiastical
calculated to bring worry and trouble upon him.
During the Rebellion of 1745, tradition states that
Prince Charles Edward, after the capture of the city by
the Highland army, sent a message to Ramsay, asking
him to repair to Holyrood, that some mark of his new
sovereign's favour might be bestowed on him. Singular,
indeed, it was, that the poet should have selected the day
in question to repair to his friend James Clerk's mansion