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

50
FAMOUS SCOTS
were two he had written some time previous—to wit, a
little Ode on the preservation from death by drowning
of the son of his friend John Bruce, on August 19,
1710 ; and the Elegy on Maggy Johnston^ the alewife, to
which reference has already been made. The first of
these bears evident traces of youth and inexperience, in
both the esoteric and exoteric or technical mysteries of
his art. For example, when referring to the danger
wherein the lad and his companions had been placed,
he remarks
—
* Whilst, like the lamp's last flame, their trembling souls
Are on the wing to leave their mortal goals '
and he conjures up the following extraordinary spectacle
of angehc gymnastics, whereby the rescue of the lads
was effected
* Angels came posting down the divine beam
To save the helpless in their last extreme.'
Little promise was visible in that piece of future excell-
ence, yet within eighteen months he had written the
Elegy on Maggy Johnston^ to which the critics of the
Easy Club gave unstinted praise. For humorous de-
scription of the convivial habits of the day, and graphic
word - painting, the poem is exceedingly happy. But
alas ! judged by our latter-day standard of refinement,
good taste, and morality, it is caviare to the general.
Only to antiquarians and students of by-past customs
do its allusions contain much that is either interesting or
edifying.
To follow Ramsay's poetic development through all
his earlier pieces would simply exhaust the interest of
the reader. Suffice it to say, that, at the request of the
;