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

ALLAN RAMSAY 53
Cocks with their careful mates and younger fry,
As if 'twere evening, to their roosts will fly.
The horned cattle will forget to feed.
And come home lowing from the grassy mead.
Each bird of day will to his nest repair,
And leave to bats and owls the dusky air ;
The lark and little robin's softer lay
Will not be heard till the return of day.'
The years 17 15-16 were evidently periods of great
activity on Ramsay's part, for at least five other notable
productions of his pen are to be assigned to that date.
To him the revelation of his life's metier had at last
come, and his enthusiasm in its prosecution was intense.
Henceforward poetry was to represent to him the
supreme aim of existence. But like the canny Scot he
was, he preferred to regard its emoluments as a crutch
rather than a staff; nay, on the other hand, the deter-
mination to discharge his daily duties in his trade, as
he executed his literary labours, con amore, seems to have
been ever present with him. On this point, and referring
to his dual pursuits as a wigmaker and a poet, he writes
to his friend Arbuckle
—
' I theek the out, and line the inside
Of mony a douce and witty pash,
And baith ways gather in the cash.
Contented I have sic a skair,
As does my business to a hair ;
And fain would prove to ilka Scot,
That pourtith's no the poet's lot.'
During the years in question Ramsay produced in
rapid succession his poem On Wit, the Club being again
responsible for this clever satire ; and also two humorous