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

58
FAMOUS SCOTS
vanity who could write, as the vicegerent of great Apollo,
as he informs us in The Scribblers Lashed^ such lines as
these
—
' Wherefore pursue some craft for bread,
Where hands may better serve than head
Nor ever hope in verse to shine,
Or share in Homer's fate or
'
Alas ! Allan, ' backwardness in coming forward ' was
never one of thy failings !
To Allan, digito monstrari was a condition of things
equivalent to the seventh heaven of felicity ; but he felt
it would be more to his advantage to be pointed out as
a bookseller than as a wigmaker, when his reputation as
a poet would cause his social status to be keenly
examined. We learn that he consulted his friend
Ruddiman on the step, who spoke strongly in its favour,
and gave him good sound advice as to the kind of stock
most likely to sell readily. The 'Flying Mercury,'
therefore, which up to this date had presided over the
' theeking ' of the outside of the ' pashes ' (heads) of the
worthy burgesses of Auld Reekie, was thereafter to
preside, with even increased lustre, over the provision of
material for lining the inside with learning and culture.
That the time was an anxious one for the poet there
can be little doubt. He was virtually beginning the
battle of life anew; and though he did so with many
advantageous circumstances in his favour, none the less
was the step one to be undertaken only after the gravest
consideration and calculation of probabilities. But by
its results the change is shown to have been a wise one.
From the outset the bookselling business proved a
lucrative venture. The issue of his own broadsides,
;