h interest. In 1716 he _pub._ an additional canto to _Christ's Kirk on
the Green_, a humorous poem sometimes attributed to James I., and in 1719
he became a bookseller, his shop being a meeting-place of the _literati_
of the city. A _coll._ ed. of his poems appeared in 1720, among the
subscribers to which were Pope, Steele, Arbuthnot, and Gay. It was
followed by _Fables and Tales_, and other poems. In 1724 he began the
_Tea Table Miscellany_, a collection of new Scots songs set to old
melodies, and the _Evergreen_, a collection of old Scots poems with which
R. as ed. took great liberties. This was a kind of work for which he was
not qualified, and in which he was far from successful. _The Gentle
Shepherd_, by far his best known and most meritorious work, appeared in
1725, and had an immediate popularity which, to a certain extent, it
retains. It is a pastoral drama, and abounds in character, unaffected
sentiment, and vivid description. After this success R., satisfied with
his reputation, produced nothing, more of importance. He was the first to
introduce the circulating library into Scotland, and among his other
enterprises was an unsuccessful attempt to establish a theatre in Edin.
On the whole his life was a happy and successful one, and he had the
advantage of a cheerful, sanguine, and contented spirit. His foible was
an innocent and good-natured vanity.

RAMSAY, EDWARD BANNERMAN (1793-1872).--A clergyman of the Scottish
Episcopal Church, and Dean of Edinburgh in that communion from 1841, has
a place in literature by his _Reminiscences of Scottish Life and
Character_, which had gone through 22 ed. at his death. It is a book
full of the engaging personality of the author, and preserves many
interesting and entertaining traits and anecdotes which must otherwise,
in all probability, have perished. The Dean was deservedly one of the
most popular men in Scotland.

RANDOLPH, THOMAS (1605-1635).--Poet and dramatist, _ed._ at Westminster
School and Camb., was a friend of Ben Jonson, and led a wild life in
London. He wrote six plays, including _The Jealous Lovers_, _Amyntas_,
and _The Muses' Looking-glass_, and some poems. He was a scholar as well
as a wit, and his plays are full of learning and condensed thought in a
style somewhat cold and hard.

RAPIN DE THOYRAS, PAUL (1661-1725).--Historian, _b._ at Castres,
Languedoc, belonged to a Protestant Savoyard family, and came to England
on the revocation of the Edict of