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

ALLAN RAMSAY 145
faults and foibles satirised in most cases are those that
richly merited the satiric lash. Yet, all these merits
granted, the reader feels something to be lacking. The
reason is not far to seek. Ramsay never felt at home
in what may be termed 'polished satire.' He was as
much out of place as would a low comedian on being
suddenly called upon to undertake 'drawing-room
comedy.' Perpetually would he feel the inclination to
rap out one of the rousing, though vulgar, jokes that
inevitably evoked a roar of applause from the gallery,
and sooner or later he would give way to it. Ramsay
was in precisely the same position. The consequence
is that in the Morning Interview^ professedly an imita-
tion of Pope's Ra^pe of tbe Lock, there are incongruous
images introduced, for the purpose of reHeving the piece
by humorous comparisons, which offend the taste even
of the most cursory reader. Such allusions as that to
' soft fifteen on her feet-washing night,' and others of a
cognate character, are entirely out of place in ' polished
satire.' If he attempted the type of composition, he
ought to have conformed to its rules.
Of course, Ramsay wrote certain satires. The Last
Speech of a Wretched Miser and the like, in the Scots
vernacular, and addressed to the lower classes in the
community, where his genius is seen at its best, because
dealing with ' low-life satire ' and the types of character
he loved most of all to paint. But his Wealth or the
Woody, his Health—a poem addressed to Lord Stair^
his Scribblers Lashed, The General Mistake, The Epistle
to Lord Ramsay, and the Rise and Fall of Stocks in 1720,
exhibit Ramsay's genius moving in fetters. His touch
lacks piquancy and epigrammatic incisiveness,—lacks, too,
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