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

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FAMOUS SCOTS
many others, he probably met the famous, or rather in-
famous, John Law of Lauriston, banker, financier, and
cheat, who was in Edinburgh in 1722, after having
brought France to the verge of bankruptcy and ruined
thousands by his financial schemes. A motley crowd,
in good sooth ; yet one whence our poet could draw
many a hint for future use.
The success of the quarto encouraged Ramsay to
redoubled efforts, and the next six or seven years are the
period of his greatest literary fertihty. In 1722 appeared
his Fables and Tales and The Three Bottnets, a poem in
four cantos. In some criticisms of Ramsay the state-
ment has been made that he owed the idea of his Fables
to Gay's inimitable collection. That this is an error is
evident, seeing the latter did not publish his volume
until 1726. In his preface to the Fables and Tales the
poet says :
' Some of the following are taken from
Messieurs la Fontaine and La Motte, whom I have
endeavoured to make speak Scots with as much ease as
I can; at the same time aiming at the spirit of these
eminent authors without being too servile a translator.'
Ramsay took as his prototypes in this species of com-
position, Phaedrus, La Fontaine, and Desbillons, rather
than ^sop. Many of the incidents he drew from
occurrences in the everyday life around him. For
example, Jupiter''s Lottery has obvious reference to the
South Sea Bubble lotteries ; while The Ass and the Brock
was thought at the time to be a sly skit on the addle-pated
Commissioners Walpole had that year sent up to Scot-
land to nip northern Jacobitism in the bud.
Ramsay's Tales in verse contain some of his daintiest
though not his strongest work. He makes no claim to