{"id":2235,"date":"2018-10-15T09:35:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T09:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=2235"},"modified":"2018-10-15T09:35:27","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T09:35:27","slug":"archive-spotlight-allan-ramsay-and-the-national-library-of-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=2235","title":{"rendered":"Archive Spotlight: Allan Ramsay and the National Library of Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

A slightly different ‘Archive Spotlight’ post today, as we go back to the early eighteenth century to celebrate the work of the poet Allan Ramsay, ‘the founding father of Romanticism’, who was born on this day in\u00a01684. Craig Lamont<\/a> is a Research Associate on the projects\u00a0\u2018The Collected Works of Allan Ramsay’ and\u00a0\u2018Editing Robert Burns for the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0Century\u2019 at the University of Glasgow. Here he tells us about his work on Ramsay at the National Library of Scotland<\/a>, illustrated with images from the archives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Archive Spotlight: Allan Ramsay and the National Library of Scotland by Craig Lamont<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allan Ramsay (1684-1758) the poet has been somewhat overshadowed by his son of the same name (1713-1784), who was Principal Painter in Ordinary for George III. When Ramsay senior is in the spotlight instead we tend to celebrate his pastoral play above all else. The Gentle Shepherd <\/em>(first published 1725, first performed 1729) was the first pastoral piece to be set within a recognisable locale rather than an anonymous idyll. For Ramsay the best choice was the region of the Pentland Hills, beyond the boundaries of Edinburgh where he lived, with a particular focus on Penicuik. In nearby Carlops you can find the Allan Ramsay Hotel<\/a> (est. 1792), which now boasts a plaque from Historical Environment Scotland:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ALLAN RAMSAY<\/p>\n

1684-1758<\/p>\n

Founding Father of Romanticism<\/p>\n

& Modern Scottish Poetry<\/p>\n

Author of the Pastoral Drama<\/p>\n

\u2018The Gentle Shepherd\u2019<\/p>\n

Set Near This Place[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In January of this year I began working as a Research Associate on the AHRC-funded project \u2018The Collected Works of Allan Ramsay<\/a>\u2019 (PI: Murray Pittock), which will produce a multi-volume edition of Ramsay for Edinburgh University Press. A Ramsay edition was last produced by the Scottish Text Society in six volumes spanning thirty years (1944-1974). These volumes are quite scarce and a full set is difficult to come by. You are more likely to read Ramsay\u2019s poems online or in paperback anthologies such as Before Burns: Eighteenth-Century Scottish Poetry <\/em>(Edinburgh: Canongate, 2002). The Ramsay Project here at the University of Glasgow hopes to elevate Ramsay to the fore of Scottish literary discourse and, of course, Romanticism. As Murray Pittock demonstrated in Scottish and Irish Romanticism<\/em> (2008), it was commonplace to regard Ramsay as a Romantic writer or the initiator of major areas of Romantic practice in pre-war (and sometimes 1950s and 60s) criticism, before the later concepts of pre-Romanticism and Romanticism as an aesthetic became dominant.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

To grasp Ramsay\u2019s influence fully we are going back to the very beginning, and so my first task was to collate as much information about Ramsay\u2019s manuscripts as possible. Without doubt, the majority of the material is suitably located in the National Library of Scotland (NLS<\/a>), a stones-throw away from the ancient Edinburgh Old Town where Ramsay lived and worked. There are also manuscripts in Ramsay\u2019s holograph in Edinburgh University Library, the National Records of Scotland, Worcester College (Oxford), the British Library, The Huntington Library (San Marino, CA), and Houghton Library (Harvard, MA). Important though these archives are, the NLS has the largest spread of songs, poems, prose fragments, letters, and the crowning jewel that is the fair copy MS of The Gentle Shepherd<\/em>.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

MS 15972, f. 7r.\u00a0Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Title-page of the first edition (F.7.f.22), one of only nine extant copies.\u00a0Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The rest of the Ramsay material at the NLS is scattered across more than forty bound or loose-leaf shelf marks, comprising a comprehensive insight into Ramsay\u2019s life, style and development.[4]<\/a> But let\u2019s go back to the plaque. Ramsay\u2019s place in Romanticism is noted but so too is his foundational role in \u2018Modern Scottish Poetry\u2019. What exactly does this mean? And how does the archive help us understand this?<\/p>\n

To answer that we should look at printed material. The NLS has an impressive collection of Ramsay\u2019s printed works.[5]<\/a> Before his first authorised book of Poems <\/em>in 1721 around fifty-six Ramsay works were published \u2013 mostly in Edinburgh, some in London \u2013 in a variety of formats. Often unauthorised<\/em>, these printed works are indicative of a poet on the rise. The claim is made for Ramsay\u2019s founding of Modern Scottish Poetry for a variety of reasons. Among the first ten printed works by Ramsay are Christ\u2019s Kirk on the Green <\/em>and Elegies on Maggy Johnston [&c.] <\/em>(both 1718).[6]<\/a> The first stanza of the \u2018Elegy on Maggy Johnston, who died Anno 1711\u2019 is one of the poet\u2019s most recognisable:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Auld Reeky <\/em>mourn in Sable Hue,<\/p>\n

Let Fouth of Tears dreep like May <\/em>Dew,<\/p>\n

To braw Tippony bid Adieu,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A<\/p>\n

Which we with Greed<\/p>\n

Bended as fast as she cou\u2019d brew,<\/p>\n

But ah! she\u2019s dead.[7]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first thing we notice here is the use of Scots. In this case Edinburgh (ie. \u2018Auld Reeky\u2019) is being asked to mourn or honour the death of a talented ale-brewer by dropping (dreeping<\/em>) rain, or tears \u2018like May dew.\u2019 Not only is the poem full of Scots words, the structure of it becomes the quintessential Scots style. The \u2018Standard Habbie\u2019 was first used by Robert Sempill, the younger, c. 1640, in his elegy \u2018The Life and Death of the Piper of Kilbarchan; or, the Epitaph of Habbie Simpson.\u2019 The phrase \u2018Standart Habbie\u2019 was coined by Ramsay in his poetical epistles with William Hamilton of Gilbertfield (c.1665-1751). It would become more famously known as the \u2018Burns Stanza\u2019, as the National Poet took it up during his own poetical career.<\/p>\n

As a printer and collector Ramsay was well aware that he was taking a steady step in the direction of a new Scottish tradition. And so in 1724 he published The Ever Green, Being a Collection of Scots Poems, Wrote by the Ingenious before 1600.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

NLS Cam.1.g.45. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

But why focus on the Ingenious before <\/em>1600? One answer is that Ramsay is harking back to the time before Scotland lost its royal independence along with its court in 1603 (the Union of the Crowns). The chief Scottish poets in the seventeenth century, such as Robert Aytoun (1570-1638) and William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585-1649) primarily wrote in Latin and English. In other words, the desire to revive the Scots language meant looking further back in time. The first item in Volume I of The Ever Green <\/em>is \u2018Chrysts-Kirk of the Grene,\u2019 which Ramsay had previously printed and added stanzas to in 1718. Whereas Ramsay had modernised the text in 1718, he has reverted it here to Middle Scots:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Ramsay, 1718\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Ramsay, 1724\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Was nere in Scotland <\/em>heard or seen, \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Was nevir in Scotland <\/em>hard nor sene<\/p>\n

Sic dancing and deray;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sic Dancing and Deray,<\/p>\n

Nowther at Falkland <\/em>on the Green,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nowthir at Falkland <\/em>on the Grene,<\/p>\n

Nor Peebles <\/em>at the Play,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nor Pebills <\/em>at the Play,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ramsay uses The Ever Green <\/em>to enshrine the poetry of an older, more prestigious literary age while simultaneously promoting his own, contrasting Modern Scots as the mainstay on the market. All of this to say that the National Library of Scotland, home to the largest collection of Ramsay material, is also<\/em> home to one of the nation\u2019s most significant manuscripts which Ramsay used to produce The Ever Green<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Bannatyne Manuscript (NLS Advocates MS 1. 1. 6) is a collection of poems and songs allegedly copied from original sources by the Edinburgh merchant George Bannatyne (1545-1607\/8) during the plague epidemic in the city (\u2018writtin in tyme of pest\u2019). Without it, many treasures of Scottish literature would be lost forever.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

NLS Advocates MS 1. 1. 6. (The phrase: ‘written in tyme of pest’ highlighted). Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not only this, Ramsay\u2019s influence on the trajectory of Scots might have been further impinged without this evidence of a rich and diverse literary heritage.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

As the project unfolds I will continue to consult the masses of Ramsay material held in the NLS.[9]<\/a> Knowing Ramsay (as I now do) it will probably lead me deeper into the archive and further back in time. As such, Ramsay\u2019s role in the development of Romanticism ought to be more celebrated and I am grateful to have shared the beginnings of this journey with BARS colleagues to achieve that very end.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Words provided by Prof. Murray Pittock, General Editor of the upcoming Ramsay Edition, in 2016.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Murray Pittock, \u2018Allan Ramsay and the Decolonization of Genre\u2019, Scottish and Irish Romanticism <\/em>(Oxford: OUP, 2008), 32-58.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> A draft MS copy is extant elsewhere in the city, in the University Library (Laing.II.212*).<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> The NLS holds the Edinburgh Burgess Ticket given to Ramsay (Acc. 3948).<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Many of these are located in Burns Martin\u2019s Bibliography of Allan Ramsay <\/em>(Glasgow: Glasgow Bibliographical Society, 1931).<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> While Burns Martin\u2019s Bibliography <\/em>is the most comprehensive work to date, Martin often relied on the work of Andrew Gibson for these earlier editions. Gibson\u2019s New Light on Allan Ramsay <\/em>(Edinburgh: William Brown, 1927) remains an essential text for Ramsay scholars: part biographical and part bibliographical.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Allan Ramsay, Poems <\/em>(Edinburgh: Thomas Ruddiman, 1721), 16.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> There is good coverage of Ramsay\u2019s \u2018Transcripts of Earlier Scottish Materials\u2019 in the Index of English Literary Manuscripts: 1700-1800 (Addison-Sir Richard Steele), vol. 3 <\/em>(1986), 252-261.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Also check the project Twitter and Facebook page, where we feature a monthly blog. Twitter: @edin_enlighten<\/a>. Facebook: @RamsayWorks<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A slightly different ‘Archive Spotlight’ post today, as we go back to the early eighteenth century to celebrate the work of the poet Allan Ramsay, ‘the founding father of Romanticism’,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2235"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2242,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235\/revisions\/2242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}