SOURCE: "Remarks on the Genius and Writings of Allan Ramsay," in The Poems of Allan Ramsay, Vol. I, Alex. Gardner, 1877, pp. xliii-cii.

Tytler's commentary, which first appeared in the 1800 edition of Ramsay's poems edited by George Chalmers, represents the first extended critical analysis of Ramsay's works. In the following excerpt, Tytler assesses Ramsay's contributions to Scottish literature in the Scots vernacular and in English, as well as his stature as a poet, particularly with regard to the elegies, the satires, and the pastoral poem The Gentle Shepherd.

As the writings of Allan Ramsay have now stood the test of the public judgment during more than seventy years, and in the opinion of the best critics, he seems to bid fair to maintain his station among our poets, it may be no unpleasing nor uninstructive employment to examine the grounds on which that judgment is founded, to ascertain the...