Who, as Britannia's Virgil hath observ'd,
From threaten'd fate all Europe then preserv'd.

Nor dost thou, Ramsay, sightless Milton wrong,
By ought contain'd in thy melodious song;
For none but Addie could his thoughts sublime
So well unriddle, or his mystic rhyme.

And when he deign'd to let his fancy rove

Where sun-burnt shepherds to the nymphs make love,
No one e'er told in softer notes the tales
Of rural pleasures in the spangled vales.
So much, O Allan, I thy lines revere,
Such veneration to his mem'ry bear,
That I no longer could my thanks refrain
For what thou'st sung of the lamented swain.

THE ANSWER TO THE FOREGOING.

THIRSTING for fame, at the Pierian spring,
The poet takes a waught, then 'seys to sing
Nature, and with the tentiest view to hit
Her bonny side with bauldest terms of wit.
Streams slide in verse, in verse the mountains rise;
When earth turns toom, he rummages the skies,
Mounts up beyond them, paints the fields of rest,
Doups down to visit ilka lawland ghaist.
O heartsome labour! wordy time and pains!
That frae the best esteem and friendship gains:
Be that my luck, and let the greedy bike,
Stock-job the warld amang them as they like.

In blyth braid Scots allow me, Sir, to shaw
My gratitude, but (1) fleetching or a flaw.

(1) "But" is frequently used for "without;" i. e. without flattering.

May rowth of pleasures light upon you lang,
Till to the blest Elysian bow'rs ye gang,
Wha've clapt my head sae brawly for my sang.
When honour'd Burchet and his maikes are pleas'd
With my corn-pipe, up to the stars I'm heez'd;
Whence far I glowr to the fag-end of time,
And view the warld delighted wi' my rhyme:
That when the pride of sprush new words are laid,
I, like the classic authors shall be read.

Stand yond, proud czar, I wadna niffer fame
With thee, for a' thy furs and paughty name!
If sic great ferlies, Sir, my muse can do,
As spin a three-plait praise where it is due,
Frae me there's nane deserves it mair than you.
Frae me!-frae ilka ane; for sure a breast
Sae gen'rous is, of a' that's good possest!
Till I can serve ye mair, I'll wish ye weel,
And aft in sparkling claret drink your
Minding the mem'ry of the great and good
Sweet Addison, the wale of human blood,
Wha fell (as Horace anes said to his billy)
"Nulli flebilior quam tibi Virgili.”

c 2

heal;

1719.

SEVEN FAMILIAR EPISTLES, (1)

WHICH PASSED BETWEEN LIEUT. HAMILTON (2).

AND THE AUTHOR.

EPISTLE I.

GILBERTFIELD, June 26th, 1719.

O FAM'D and celebrated Allan !

Renowned Ramsay! canty callan !

(1) [* See vol. i. p. 79.]

(2) For some account of this gentleman, see the Life of Ramsay prefixed. [* We are indebted to a very meritorious publication, 'The Scottish Journal of Topography,' &c. No. 8. for the following particulars respecting Ramsay's correspondent William Hamilton of Gilbertfield:His ancestors, a branch of the ducal family of Hamilton, owned the lands of Ardoch, near Kilwinning, from an early period. Captain William Hamilton, father of the poet, acquired the property of Ladyland, near Kilwinning, about the middle of the seventeenth century. Shortly afterwards he "biggit a new house, of twa stories, with sklates," in lieu of the old castle of Ladyland, which he demolished. Captain Hamilton was one of those who refused the Test act in 1684, and was in consequence disarmed. He fell in action against the French, during the wars of King William. He married in 1662, Janet, daughter of John Brisbane of that Ilk, by whom he left two sons, John, his heir, and WILLIAM, the subject of this notice. The precise date of either of their births is not known. It is presumable, however, that the latter was born sometime between 1665 and 1670. He entered the army early in life, and served many years abroad. He rose, however, no higher than the rank of lieutenant, which commission he held "honourably in my Lord Hyndford's regiment." On retiring on half-pay, he resided at Gilbertfield, in the parish of Cambuslang. Whether the property was his own does not appear. His being styled "of Gilbertfield" would imply that it did; though it may have been adopted merely in contradistinction to Hamilton of Bangour, who was a cotemporary. "His time (says a writer in the Lives of Eminent Scotsmen) [London, 1822. 18mo] was now divided between the sports of the field, the cultivation of several valued friendships with men of genius and taste, and the occasional production of some effusions of his own, in which the gentleman and the poet were alike conspicuous. His intimacy with the author of The Gentle Shepherd,' three of his epistles to whom are to be found in the common editions of Ramsay's works, commenced in an admiration, on Ramsay's part, of some pieces which had found

There's nowther Highlandman nor Lawlan,

In poetrie,

But may as soon ding down Tamtallan, (1)
As match wi' thee.

For ten times ten, and that's a hunder,
I ha'e been made to gaze and wonder,
When frae Parnassus thou didst thunder,
Wi' wit and skill;

Wherefore I'll soberly knock under,
And quat my quill.

Of poetry the hail quintescence

Thou hast suck'd up, left nae excrescence
To petty poets, or sic messens,

Tho' round thy stool

They may pick crumbs, and lear some lessons
At Ramsay's school.

their way into circulation from Hamilton's pen." This was not the case. At all events the correspondence began with Hamilton. These familiar epistles, as they are termed, are highly creditable to the poetical talent of both parties; yet, without depreciating the merit of Ramsay, we think the superiority may be justly awarded to the Ayrshire poet. His verses are characterised by an easy flow of composition, not possessed by those of Auld Reekie's much-famed bard. In 1722, Lieut. Hamilton published an abridgment, modernised, of Henry the Minstrel's Life of Wallace. It was, however, considered an injudicious undertaking, and brought him neither profit nor fame. From Gilbertfield, the poet, towards the close of his days, removed to Latterick, in Lanarkshire, where he died "at a very advanced age," on the 24th May 1751. He married a lady of his own name-probably a relation-by whom, it appears from the parish records of Kilbirnie, he had a daughter baptized Anna on the 16th of June 1693, so that he must have entered the matrimonal state at an early period of life. Whether he left any issue is unknown. The Hamiltons of Ladyland, however, are not without descendants. The brother of the poet, having sold the property to the ninth Earl of Eglinton, about 1712, proceeded to the north of Ireland, where he purchased an estate, which was subsequently disposed of by his son and heir, William, who, returning to Scotland in 1744, bought the lands of Craighlaw, in Galloway. The lineal representative of the family, William Hamilton of Craighlaw, is, or was lately, an officer in the 10th Hussars. He was one of the protesters against the Veto act of the General Assembly in 1839.]

(1) An old castle upon the firth of Forth in East Lothian.

Tho' Ben (1) and Dryden of renown
Were yet alive in London town,
Like kings contending for a crown,
"Twad be a pingle,

Whilk o' you three wad gar words sound
And best to gingle.

Transform'd may I be to a rat,
Wer't in my pow'r, but I'd create
Thee upo' sight the laureat (2)
Of this our age,

Since thou may'st fairly claim to that
As thy just wage.

Let modern poets bear the blame,
Gin they respect not Ramsay's name,
Wha soon can gar them greet for shame,
To their great loss,

And send them a' right sneeking hame
Be Weeping-cross.

Wha bourds wi' thee had need be wary,
And lear wi' skill thy thrust to parry,
When thou consults thy dictionary
Of ancient words,

Which come from thy poetic quarry
As sharp as swords.

Now tho' I should baith reel and rottle,
And be as light as Aristotle,

(1) The celebrated Ben Jonson.

(2) Scots Ramsay press'd hard, and sturdily vaunted,
He'd fight for the laurel before he would want it:
But risit Apollo, and cry'd, Peace there, old stile,
Your wit is obscure to one half of the isle.

B. SESS. OF POETS,