SIR ANDREW RAMSAY, LORD ABBOTSHALL
Letter by John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, to his Son[721]
[721] MS. in possession of Sir T.N. Dick Lauder.
The following letter from Fountainhall to his son, probably his eldest son and successor, John, is a characteristic specimen of his later style. It holds up to the young man as an example the character and career of his maternal grandfather, Sir Andrew Ramsay, Lord Abbotshall.
[Illustration: SIR ANDREW RAMSAY, LORD ABBOTSHALL]
'Appryll 3d, 1691.
Sone,—The letters I formerly sent you, tho replenished with the best advyces that ather my reading or my experience and observatione or my paternall affection affoorded, and in thesse important affaires they handled, yet I conceive they might be the less effectuall that they had no other authority to back them but my own. Theirfor I am resolved a litle to trye another method, and so put thesse useful precepts in the mouths of some of your ancestors as if they wer allowed for some tyme to arryse from the dead and speak to those descended of them; and I shall set befor you some of their vertues and illustrious actions for ane pattern worthy your imitation, seeing there cannot be ane better direction in the stearing the compass of our lyves then by reading the lyves of good men, espccially wheir wee are nearly related to them, and in the using of this prosopopoea I have no less examples to follow then the prince of orators Cicero and the great Seneca who to give the greater weight and authority to the moral precepts they delyvered to the people of Rome they conjure up the ghosts of Scipio, Laelius, Cato, Appius and thesse other worthies, and bringe them upon the Stage, teaching their own posterity the principles of vertue which is observed to have left a far greater impression, and have proselyted and convinced the mynds of the hearers more than what the greatest philosophers delyvered only as their own sentiments and opinions. And because it is not usuall to wryte the lyves of men whyle[722] they be dead, Theirfor I will begin with your maternall lyne and sett befor you some of the most eminent transactions wheirin that excellent Gentleman, Sir Andrew Ramsay, your grandfather, was most concerned in, with the severall vertues and good qualities that made him so famous and considerable, which ought to be ane spurr and incitement to all good and vertuous actions, and to non so much as to his oun grand-chyld. And because it layes ane great tye and obligation wheir on is descended of ane race that never did anything that was base and unwurthy of a Gentleman, Theirfor I will also shortly as I can give you ane account of his pedegrie and descent befor I come to descrybe his oun personall merit and actions. For tho the poet sayes true, Et genus et proavos et quae non fecimus ipsi, vix ea nostra voco, yet to be of ane honourable descent of good people as it raises the expectation of the wurld that they will not beley their kynd as Horace sayes, Fortes creantur fortibus, so they turn contemptibly hatefull when they degenerat and by their vices blacken and sully the glory and honour their ancestors had gained, and they turn a disgrace to the family and relations they are come of. Bot to begin: Sr Andrew was the 3d sone of Mr. Andrew Ramsay, minister of Edr., and Mary Frazer. He being a sone of the Laird of Balmaynes, and shee a daughter of the Laird of Dores, and it being fitt that a man should know his oun genealogie that wheir ane of them has been signalized for vertue it may be ane motive to provock our imitation, and if they have att any tymes been led out of the way of vertue that it may serve for ane beacon and scar-crow to the descendants to hold of thesse rocks and shelves wheir they may see the bones of their friends as the memento of Lots wyfe to beware of thesse fatall errors. And tho a man should know the history of his oun nation and not be domi talpa, yet there is no part of that history so usefull as that of his genealogie, and therfor I would give you some account of that family of Balmayn and of some remarkable things have happened therin.
The first of them was John Ramsay, sone to the Laird of Corstoun in Fyfe, who being ane handsome young boy was made choyse of to attend Ki: Ja: 3d att the Grammar School. Their was pains taken for another Gentleman's sone, who had been bred in the high-school of Edr. and both read and wrote better, yet the young King thinking John had more the mean of ane Gentleman preferred him, tho choyses of such princes being lyke Rhehoboams, not so much founded upon merits as fancy and ane similitude of humor, and I have observed friendship and acquaintance contracted betwixt boyes att schooll to be very durable, and so it proved here, for K.J. 3d made him on of his Cubiculars and then Captain of his guards, with this extravagant priveledge that non should wear a sword within two myles of the Kings palace without his speciall warrand and licence, which created him much envy and hatred, that for supporting him against the same, he first knighted him and then gave him the lands of Kirkcanders in Galloway, Terinean in Carrick, Gorgie in Lothian, and Balmayn in the Mernes. All which lands his posterity hath sold or wer evicted from them by recognitions, except Balmayn. And tho wee doe not find him taxed as on of the bad counsellors that made ane discord betuixt the said K. James and his nobles, att least not so much as Cochran, who from being his Master Mason he had made E. of Marr, and other mean people about him whom he had advanced, yet it was impossible for him to be in so much favour with his prince without drawing the emulation and envy of great and auntient families, who thought non should come between them and their Soveraigne. For you will find from our Chronicles that this King was on of the worst of all the James's and came to ane fatall end by his variance with the Nobility, whom he studyed to humble as factious and tumultuary, bot they thought themselves slighted and disobleidged by his making use of mean men in all offices about him. Bot to return to Sr. John Ramsay. It shewes the Kings great affection to him att Lundie bridge when Archbald E. of Angus, called bell the cat (the reason wheirof you know), and the other barons seazed upon Cochran and the bad Counsellors and hanged them over the bridge, and some of them apprehending Ramsay for that same end, the King grasped him in his armes and plead with them to spare him as more innocent than the rest, which was yealded to by the Kings intercession. Bot after this he created him E. of Bothwell, ane title that hes been funest and unluckie to all the three possessors of it, viz., the Ramsay, Hepburn, and Stewart, and which the Ramsay bruiked shorter then any of the other two. For after the killing of the King in Bannock-burn myln when he had fled out of the battell, the parliament did annull that title of honour, and from that tyme they have only been designed Lairds of Balmayn. Some say he was killed with his master in that feild, bot I have two unansreable arguments agst it. The on is that in severall of K.J. the 4ths parliats. I find him on of the Commissioners as now but joyned two or three in ane deputation. Neither had thesse offices att that tyme such splendour and greatness annexed to them as now, and by this it appears the K.J. the 4th durst not resent his fathers death, yet he took speciall nottice of those freinds who had faithfully adhered to him. Instance the iron belt and bitter repartee he gave the Lord Gray. The second is, That Mr. Andrew Ramsay his great grand-chyld, in his Latine epitaph made on him, printed amongst his Epigrams, affirmes that he was killed att the battell of Floudan with K.J. 4th, which, if true, he has out-lived J. the 3d 25 years. I find the said Sr. John Ramsay's sone hath lived till about the year 1567. For in the Sederunt books that year there is ane gift of tutory dative mentioned, making Sr Robert Carnagie of Kinnaird tutor to Wm. Ramsay of Balinayne, left ane minor by the death of his fayr., and this Sr Robt. did afterwards bestow Katharine Carnagie his daughter upon the said Wm. Ramsay. The present Earles of Southesk are lineally descended of the said Sr Robt. bot wer not nobilitat for 30 years after that. Of this Wm. Ramsay and the said Katharine Mr. Andrew Ramsay was their second sone, and being educat in literature, wes sent abroad by his parents to the famous protestant University of Saumur in France, where he gave such eminent specimens of his great knowledge that in 1600 he was created professor of theologie yr. And I have seen that printed Latine oration he had att his inauguration, and tho the Scots wer soouner preserved in France than any other strangers, yet it behooved to be extraordinary merits that adjudged the divinity chair to him befor so many candidats and rivals of their own nation. Bot being desirous to improve the talents heaven had bestowed on him in his oun countrey, he returned home, and about the year 1608 married that vertuous Gentlewoman, Mary Frazer, daughter to the Laird of Dores, and wes by Sr. Alexr. Arbuthnot of that ilk her uncle by the mother called to his Church of Arbuthnot in the Mernes, bot he being ane star of ane greater magnitude than to be consigned to so obscure ane place he wes, in 1613,[723] invited to the toun of Edr. to be on of their ministers, which he accepted, and continued their till 1649 that he was laid asyde by that prevailling remonstrator faction in the church, because he wold not dissown the engadgement undertaken by James Duke of Hamilton the year befor for procuring K. Ch. the first's liberty, and so continued solaceing himself with that murus ahæneus of a good conscience till he resigned up his blessed soule into the hands of his merciful creator in the end of that year 1659, having, lyke Moses of[724] Mount-pisga, seen the designes and inclinations of this Island to bring back their banished King which he had much promoted by his prayers; and so this good man, lyke ane sheaff of rype corn, was gathered into his masters barn in the 86 year of his age, a man who for his singular piety and vast reading was the phenix of his tyme as his manuscripts yet extant can prove, so that his memory is yet sweet and fragrant, but especially to those who are descended of him who are more particularly oblidged to imitat his goodness, vertue and learning. Bot befor I leave Balmaynes family I shall only tell on passage because its remarkable of David Ramsay of Balmayn, the said Mr. Andrews nephew. Their is ane sheett of paper in form of ane testament wheron their is no word written bot only this, Lord, remember the promise thou hes made to thy servant David Ramsay such ane day of such ane moneth and such ane year, and then he adds, Let my posterity keep this among their principall evidents and subscrybes underneath it his name, and which paper is yet extant and keeped by Sr. Charles the present Laird, bot what the revelation was I could never learn. Now to give you but on word of the maternall descent, they wer aunciently Thanes of Collie, and were come of the great Frazer, who was named by the parliat. on of the governors of Scotland be-north Tay with the Cummings till the controversie should be decyded betuixt the Bruce and the Ballioll in 1270.
Of thir parents was my Lord Abbotshall born in May 1619, being their 3d sone, and from his very infancy promised good fruit by the airlie blossomes of ane sharp and peircing witt, and his two elder brothers having been bred schollars, providence ordered him to be educat ane merchand, bot by his oun industry in reading and his good converse he supplied that defect in his education, and haveing been elected youngest Bailzie of Edr. in thesse troublesome tymes of the English invading and subdueing our nation in 1652, he behaved so well that Provost Archbald Tod comeing to dye in 1654, he was not only recommended by him bot was lykewayes by the toun counsell judged fittest to succeed him; a step which few or non hes made to ryse from the lowest to the cheiff place of Magistracy in the burgh without passing throw the intermediat offices, and which station he keeped till Michaelmass 1658. Dureing which tyme the toun haveing many aflaires to negotiat att London with Oliver the protector, and those whose estates wer sequestrat haveing addresses to give in ather to have the sequestration taken of or are part allocat for their aliment, they all unanimously agreed to employ provost Ramsay as the fittest, which he discharged with great dexterity to all their satisfactions; which made some reflect upon him as complying too much with the usurper, bot when a nation is broke and under the foott of ane enemy, it has alwayes been esteemed prudence and policy to get the best termes they can for the good of their countrey, and to make the yoke of the slavery lye alse easy upon our necks as may be: and the toun was so sensible of his wise and equall administration that they after tryall of severall others brought him in again to be provost in 1662, which he keeped for eleven years together more then what any had ever done befor hira, Chancellour Seton haveing continued for 10 years. When he entered upon this second part of his government he found the toun at the brink of ruine by the cruell dissentions then sprung up betuixt the merchands and trades about their priviledges, bot he lyke ane skilfull Chirurgeon bound up and healled their wounds; and being lykewayes sunck under the burthen of debt he procured such gifts and impositions from his Mat'ie upon all sorts of Liquors that he in a short tyme brought doun their debt from eleven hundredth thousand merks to seven hundredth thousand: and being thrcatened by the Lord Lauderdale to erect the citadels of Leith in a burgh Royall, which wold have broke the trade of Edr., for preventing therof he purchased the same and annexed it to the toun, and finding that Sr. Wm. Thomson their Clerk by his influence upon the deacons of trades nominated and elected the Magistrats att his pleasure, he in 1665 caused the toun Counsell of Edr. depryve him, and notwithstanding all the pains he took by brybery of the then Statsmen and other wayes to reenter to his place, yet he was never able to effectuat it, and then he procured Mr. Wm. Ramsay his second sone to be made conjunct Clerk of Edr. Bot his death att Newcastell some few years after made the designe of this profitable place abortive.
Our Statsmen being att that tyme under great animosities and prejudices against on another, Lauderdale, Hamilton, and Rothes drawing three severall factions, Abbotshall, who could make a very judicious choyce, did strike in with Lauderdale, and upon his bottome reared up the fabrick of his enshueing greatnes. For by his favour he was both maintained in the provestrie of Edr., and advanced to the Session privy- Counsell and Excheqr. This could not but draw upon him the Vatinian hatred of the opposite parties. For they saw so long as Sr Andrew governed the toun of Edr. they could not expect non of those large donatives and gratifications which Lauderdale was yearly getting, besydes the citizens longed to have ane share in the government of the toun which they saw inhaunced and monopolized by Sr Andrew and his creatures, so that it was no wonder after so longe ane sun-shyne of prosperity their should come ane storm, that being alse usuall as after a longe tract of fair weather to expect foull, and envy and malice are alse naturall concomitants of greatnes and merite as the shaddow is of the body, and it was never found that good offices done to are society was ever otherwayes rewarded than by ingratitude. Themistocles, Coriolanus and the old worthies of Rome and Greece are sufficient proofs of this. And for compassing their end Sr James Rocheid Clerk, Sr Ffrancis Kinloch, who aspyred att the provistrie, and sevll. other burgers wer hounded out to accuse him in the parliat. held in 1673, and money was largely contributed and given to the Dutches of Lauderdale, and shee considering that his power was now so farr diminished in Edr. that he wold not be able for to drop those golden shoures that formerly he did, shee prevailled with the Duke her husband to wheedle Myn Lord Abbotshall into ane dimission of all his offices. For Plautus observes[725] in Trinummus holds alwayes true that great men expect that favours most be laid so many ply thick on upon another that rain may not win through, which goes very wittily in his oun language, beneficia aliis benefactis legito ne perpluant. It is true the Duke designed no more by this dimission bot to ward of the present blow, and promised to keep all those offices for his oun behoof till the speat and humour of the people agst him wer spent and runne out, bot the Dutchess and others about him did so violent him that he was not so good as his word. They insinuating to him that it was not safe to trust a man of sense and parts whom he had so highly enraged and disobleidged, and that the bringing him back to power was but the putting him in a capacity to revenge himself, and the truth is that has ever been the practice of the inconsiderat mad world to runne doun any man when he is falling, as Juvenal observes in the case of Sejanus, who brings in the mobile who had adored him the day befor with Hosannas crying with displayed gorge, dum jacet in ripa, calcemus Cæsaris hostem, and it is very fitt that divyne providence tryst us with such dispensations. For if wee had alwayes prosperous gales that is so inebriating are potion that lyke the herb mentioned by Homer, it's ready both to cause us forgett our selves and our dewty to God, and I speak it from my oun knowledge that Abbotshall was rauch bettered by thir traverses of fortune, for it both gave him ane ryse and opportunity with more leasure and tyme to examine what he had done in the hurry of publick busines, and to repent and amend our errors is in Seneca's Moralls the next best to the being innocent and not haveing committed thesse faults att all: the French proverb being of eternall truth that the shorter ane folly be it is the better; and tho' that physicall rule a privatione ad habitium non datur regressus be also true in politicks as in physicks that a man divested of his offices seldome ever recovers his former greatnes, yet Lauderdale being ashamed of the injustice with which he had treated Abbotshall, he made him many large promises of reparation, but ther was never any more performed bot the reponeing him again to his office as ane privy- Counsellor to teach us how litle the favour and assureances of great men are to be regarded, being lyke thesse deceiving brooks wherin you shall not find ane drope of watter in the drougth of summer, and to teach us to look up to God and to despyse the lubricity of this world and all its allurements, which is modo mater statim noverca, and being blind, foollish, and arrogant, renders all who greedily embrace her alse foollish as herself, and instead of ane substance deludes us with ane empty shaddow of are Junonian cloud, and playes with men as so many tinnise-balls. I have oft blamed Abbotshall for his high manner of doeing bussines relyeing too much upon the strength of his oun judgement which, tho' very pregnant, yet in his oun concernes might be more impartially judged by other by-standers. I have wisht him, with the Marquesse Paulet, that he might have more of the complying willow and lesse of the sturdy oak, bot he oft acknowledged God's care of him in not suffering him to lose himself in ane false flattering world; and if it had been lawfull for him to have taken satisfaction in the calamities of others he had the pleasure in his lyfe to see Kincardyne, Dirltoun, Carringtoun, Lauderdale, and his other enemies turned out of their places more ignominiously than he. Thus wearied with troubles and the death of many of his children come to age, he devotly payed the last debt to nature in January 1688, being the 69 year of his age. This is all I can get at present proposed to you for one pattern and example, the sheat being able to hold no more.'
[722] i.e. until.
[723] Mr. Andrew Ramsay, Minister of the old Kirk in Edinr., was Professor of Divinity and Rector of the University of Edinr. for six years successively preceeding the 8th March 1626, att which time he gave up both offices.—Note in MS.
[724] i.e. off, from.
[725] i.e. Plautus's observation.
Abbotshall was a man of great force of character. He was much respected by Lauder, who, on his marriage with his daughter, was probably a good deal indebted to him for his first start in professional life. For example, it was no doubt by his influence that he was very early appointed one of the Assessors to the town of Edinburgh along with Sir George Lockhart and soon afterwards to the whole of the Burghs. To the facts of his life as narrated in the letter it may be added that in the course of his career he acquired extensive estates. Besides Abbotshall in Fife, he became the owner, among other lands, of Waughton in East Lothian, a place often mentioned by Lauder, where his brother-in-law, Sir Andrew Ramsay, junior, resided. The eulogy in the letter is somewhat deficient in light and shade, more so than some other passages in which Lauder mentions his father-in-law (see Introduction, p. xxxvi). A good deal about Abbotshall may be read in Sir George Mackenzie's Memoirs, the following extract from which (p. 246) will help to supply the chiaroscuro.
'Sir Andrew Ramsay had, by obtaining 5000ll sterling to the Duke of Lauderdale for the Citadel of Leith, and other 5000ll to him for the new impositions granted to the town by the King upon ale and wine, insinuated himself very far into the favour of his Grace; and by his favour had, for ten successive years, continu'd himself Provost of Edinburgh, and consequently Preses of the Burghs; by which, and by having the first vote of Parliament, he was very serviceable to Lauderdale; who in requital of that favour obtained 200 ll sterling per annum settled upon the Provost of Edinburgh, and caused the king give him 4000ll sterling for his comprising of the Bass, a rock barren and useless. Thus they were kind to one another upon his Majesty's expenses. In this office of Provost he had governed most tyrannically for ten years, applying the Coramon Good to himself and friends, and inventing new though unnecessary employments within the town, to oblige those who depended upon him. But at last the citizens, weary of his yoke, resolved to turn him out at Michaelmas 1672.'
The attempt failed at that time.