THE GLEN COLLECTION OF SCOTTISH MUSIC Presented by Lady Dorothea Ruggles- Brise to the National Library of Scotland, in memory of her brother. Major Lord George Stewart Murray, Black Watch, killed in action in France in 1914. 28f/t January 1927. ••• — I34TB M I S C E L L A N E 0 IT'S ZM. as, WORKS -M OF THAT Celebrated Scotch p O E T? ALLAN RAMSAY. Zef thtm cenfure, what care I ? The Herd of Cr it kies I defy. No, no, the Fair, the Gay, the Young Govern the Numbers of my Cong : / All that they approve is fweet. / And all is Senfe that they repele. ■ PRIOR from ANACREON. M DUB LIN: j Printed by S. POWELL, (of GEORGE RISK, Bookfeller, at the Corner of Ca^lc-lanc in (brer, near the Horfeguard, MDCCXXIV. JP.C in To the mofl Beautiful THE Britijh LADIES. Fair Patronejfes, ^ R your innocent Divet- fion, and to invite thofe ^ engaging Smiles which heighten your other Beau- ties, the moft Part of my Poems were wrote, having had the Plea- fure to be fometimes approved of by you, which was the Mark I chiefly aim’d at. Allow me then to lay the following Colle&ion at your Feet 5 accept of it as a grateful Return of every Thought hap- pily exprefs’d by me, they being lefs ow- ing to my natural Genius, than to the In- fpiration of your Charms. a 2 I iv 7be D E D 1C A r 1 O JSf. I fhali hope to be excus’d, when I drop the common Form, and enter not into a Detail of your Qualities, altho’the faireft Field for Panegyrick ^ but too extenfive for a Dedication, and many of them the Subjects which embellifh the whole Book. With Difficulty I curb my felf, and de- cline fo delightful a Theme ; The raviffi- ing Images croud upon me; but I’ll re- ferve them for Numbers. Profe is too low, and looks affected, when drefs’d in the Ornaments of Panegyrick. Dear Laclies, pardon my Faults, honour me with your indulgent Prote<5tion, and • allow me ever to be. May it pleafe your Eadyjhips, Tour moji humble, Mojl obedient, And mojl faithful Servant, Allan Ramsa y. V THE PREFACE. y I VS nonz of the leaf of my ’Dlverjtonr to fee one Part J of the World laug!:ing at the other, yet all fem fully fotisfied with their own Opinions and Abilities , but IJhall never quarrel with any Man whofe Temper it tne Fe- verfe of mine, and enters not into the Tufte of the f me Plea- fures. 'Tis as ridiculous for one to be difjbliged at another s different Way of Thinking, as it is to challenge him for having a Nofe not of a Shape with his. Every Man is born with a- particular Bent, which will difcover itfelf in Spite of dl Of- pofition. Mine is obvious, which Jince Iknevt, I ntver in- clined to curb ; but rather encouraged my felf in the Pur- fuit, tho many Difficulties lay in my Way. Whether Poetry be the mojl elevated, delightful and gene- rous Study in the World, i^ more than I dare affirm ; but l think fo. Tetl am affraid, when the following Mifcellany is examined, I jhall not be found to deferve the eminent Cha- racter that belongt to the Epick Majler, whofe Fire and Flegm is equally blended. But Anacieon, Hot a e, and Walkr xvere Poets, and had Souls warmed with true poetick Flame, altho' their Patience fell Jhort of thofe who could be flow a Number of Tears on tbeftnijbing one Heroic! Poem, and jujlly claim the Preeminence. If l know any Faults in my own Productions, I am not Fool enough to blaze them : Perhaps they may be overlook'd by the Indulgence of my bejl Friends, for whom I write.— ’Tis not to -be doubted that I have Enemies ; yes, I have been honoured with three or four Satyrs, but fuch wretched Stuff, that feveral of my Friends would alledge upon me that I had a 3 ' wrote vi The PREFACE. wrote r.nd fuhlijbed them my fdf (none of the wor fl Poli- ticks I own) to make the World believe I had no Poes but "Fools Such Pedants as confine Learning to the critical Zln- derfianding of the dead Languages, while they are ignorant of the Beauties of their Mother-Tongue, do not view me with a friendly Eye : But I'm even with them, when I tell them to their Faces, without Blujhing, that I underJland Horace but faintly in the Original, and yet can fieajl on his beautiful Thoughts drefs'd in britifli ; and do not fee any great Occafton for every Man's being made Capable to tranjlate the Clafftcks, when they are fo elegantly done to his tland. For do I value tho' Doflor Bently heard this : And perhaps it had been no worfe for the great Lyrick that this fame Doff or had under food the Latin Tongue as little as I. My chearful "Friends will pardon (a very ejfential ^Quali- fication of a Poet) my Vanity, when in Self-Defence I inform the Ignorant, that many of the finejl Spirits, and of the high- eft Quality and Dijlinflion, eminent for Literature, and Knowledge of Mankind, from an Affability which ever ac- compmics great Minds, tell me. They are pleSfed with what 1 have done ; and add. That my imall Knowledge oE the deal or fore:gn Lang age? i$ nothing to my Difadvan- tage : Purflie your own natural Manner, fay they, and be an Original. One may very eaftly imagine that I hear this with Abundance of fecrei Satisfaffion and Joy ; the Ladier too are cn my Side, they grace my Song with the Sweetnefs of their Voices, conn over my Pajtoral, and fmilz at my inno- cent merry Tale, Thus fTiielded by fhe Brave and Fair, My Foes may envy, but delpair. That I have expreff my Thought in my native Dialeff, Was not only Inclination, but the Defire of my be ft and vsiftfi Friends ; and moft reafonable, fifice good Imagery, juft Si- milies, and all Manner of ingenious Thoughts, in a well laid Defign, difpofed into Humbers, is Poetry.- Then good Poetry may be in any Language. — But fame Nations freak rough, and their Words are confounded with a Multi- tude of hard Confnnants, which makes the Numbers unhar- nionious. Bftdcs, their Language is fcanty, which makes a dfagreeable The PREFACE. vii difagrecable Repetition of tfx feme Words.- T^efe are no Defeats in ours, the Pronunciation is liquid and fonorous, and much fuller than the Lnglifb, of which we are Majlers., by being taught it in our Schools, and daily reading it; woio being added to all our own native Words, cf eminent Signi- ficancy, makes our Tongue by far the completejl: For In fiance, I can fay, An empty Houfe, a toom fcarrel, a bofs Head, and, a hollow Heart. M-any fuch Examples might be given, but let this one fujfice I cannot here omit a Paragraph or two of a Preface, wrote by the learned Dr 5ewel, to a London Edition of one of my Pajlorals, after he has faid fame Things very handfomely in my Favour. In Behalf of our Language he exprejfes himfelf thus. The following Poem, if i am not mirtaken (for 1 fet up for no Critic) is a true and juft Paftoral, a- bounding with thofe Heauties, which are either required, or are to be found in the beft edeem'd Paftorals. TheScotticifms, which perhaps may offend Come overnice Ear, give new Life and Grace to the Poetry, and b come their Place as well as the Doric Dialed of Theocritus, fo much admired by the beft Judges. When l mention that Tongue 1 bewail my own little Knowledge cf it, finCe 1 meet with fo many Words and Phrafes fo espreftive of the Ideas they are intended to reprefent. A fmall Acquain'ance with that Language, and our old Englijh Poets, will con- vince any Man, that we fpen<^ too much Time in looking Abroad for trifling Delicacies, when we may be treated at home with a more fubfbntial, as well as a more elegant Entertainment. There are fame of the following, which we comVtonly rechon Englilh Poetry, fuc1' at the Morning Interview, Con ent, Wc. but all their Difference from the others is only in the Orthography of fame Words, fuch at, from for fiae, bold for bauld, and fame few Himes of Things ; and in thofe, tho' the Words be pure Englifh, the Idiom or Pbra. feology is f ill Scots. Throughout the Whole, I have only copied from Nature, and with all Precaution have Jludied, as far as it came within the Ken of my Objervation and Memory, not to re- peat what has been already Jaid by others, tho it be next to 'inpofftblc fometimcs to Jland clear cf them, eftcnilly in the a 4 Utile viii The PREFACE. Jittle 'Love Plots of a Song. -■ There are towards the End of this Mifcellany, five or fix Imitations of Horace, w‘:ich any acquainted with that Author will frefently ol- fervt. / have only Jnatcbed at his Thought and Method in grofs, and drefs'd them up in Scots, without confining my felf -, fo that thefe are only to be reckoned a folloiving of his Manner. This is all I think ne’dful in Defence of my Book, and to keep it in (Countenance with a Preface.