Campbell, a poet and a Scotsman, has not attempted it. In short, we do
not find poetry in the Scottish dialect at all _kept up_ in Scotland. It
is every year becoming more a matter of research and reminiscence.
Nothing new is added to the old stock, and indeed it is surprising to
see the ignorance and want of interest displayed by many young persons
in this department of literature. How few read the works of Allan
Ramsay, once so popular, and still so full of pastoral imagery! There
are occasionally new editions of the _Gentle Shepherd_, but I suspect
for a limited class of readers. I am assured the boys of the High
School, Academy, etc., do not care even for Burns. As poetry in the
Scottish dialect is thus slipping away from the public Scottish mind, I
thought it very suitable to a work of this character to supply a list of
modern _Scottish dialect writers_. This I am able to provide by the
kindness of our distinguished antiquary, Mr. David Laing--the fulness
and correctness of whose acquirements are only equalled by his
readiness and courtesy in communicating his information to others:--
SCOTTISH POETS OF THE LAST CENTURY.
ALLAN RAMSAY. B. 1686. D. 1757. His _Gentle Shepherd_, completed in
1725, and his _Collected Poems_ in 1721-1728.
It cannot be said there was any want of successors, however obscure,
following in the same track. Those chiefly deserving of notice were--
ALEXANDER Ross of Lochlee.
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