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

ALLAN RAMSAY 63
always ready to recognise the merits of others, and his
egoism was not selfishness. Though he might not care
to deny himself to his own despite for the good of others,
he was perfectly ready to assist his neighbour when his
own and his family's needs had been satisfied.
At this time, also. Sir William Scott of Thirlestane,
Bart, a contemporary Latin poet, as Chalmers records,
of no inconsiderable powers, hailed Ramsay as one of
the genuine poets whose images adorned the temple of
Apollo. In the ' Poemata D. Gulielmi Scoti de Thirle-
stane,' printed along with the ' Selecta Poemata Archi-
bald! Pitcarnii' (Edinburgh, 1727), the following lines
occur
—
^Effigies Allani Ramscei, PoHce Scoti, inter cateras Po'etarum
Imagines in Templo Apollinis suspensa
Ductam Parrhasia videtis arte
Allani effigiem, favente Phoebo,
Qui Scotos numeros suos, novoque
Priscam restituit vigore linguam.
Hanc Phcebus tabulam, banc novem sorores
Suspendunt lepidis jocis dicatam :
Gaudete, O Veneres, Cupidinesque,
Omnes illecebrae, facetiseque,
Plausus edite ; nunc in sede Phoebi
Splendet conspicuo decore, vestri
Allani referens tabella vultus.'
As much as any other, this testimony evinces how rapidly
our poet's reputation had increased.
At last, in the spring of 1720, Allan Ramsay came
before the public, and challenged it to endorse its
favourable estimate of his fugitive pieces by subscribing
to a volume of his collected poems, ' with some new,
not heretofore printed.' As Chambers remarks: *The
estimation in which the poet was now held was clearly
: