rom 1650 to
the Union, fanaticism became paramount and sternly repressed them. One
of the earliest mentions of dramatic representations after that date
occurs in 1710, and again in 1715, when a regular company of players
performed certain dramas in the Long Gallery and in the Tennis Court at
Holyrood-house. In the subsequent winter, as we learn from the _Scots
Courant_ of December 16, 1715, the plays were represented in the old
magazine-house at the back of the foot of the Canongate, on which
occasion, said the notice, 'the several parts would be performed by some
new actors just arrived from England.'

On the last night of the year 1719 Ramsay supplied a prologue for the
performance of Otway's play, 'The Orphan,' and 'The Cheats' of Scapin,
'by some young gentlemen,' wherein he remarked--

'Somebody says to some folk, we're to blame;
That 'tis a scandal and a burning shame
To thole young callants thus to grow sae snack,
And learn--O mighty crimes!--to speak and act!
But let them talk. In spite of ilk endeavour,
We'll cherish wit, and scorn their fead or favour.'

In 1722 he wrote an epilogue, to be spoken after the acting of 'The
Drummer'; in 1726 a prologue, to be addressed to the audience by the
famous Tony Aston on the first night of his appearance; in 1727 a
prologue, to be delivered before the acting of 'Aurenzebe,' at
Haddington School; and finally, an epilogue, recited after the
performance of 'The Orphan' and 'The Gentle Shepherd,' in January 1729.
All these, and probably others that have not been preserved, evince that
Ramsay cherished a warm affection for the drama, with an earnest desire
to see his fellow-countrymen profit by it. After the indignant
remonstrance--

'Shall London have its houses twa,
And we be doomed to nane ava?
Is our metropolis ance the place
Where lang-syne dwelt the royal race
Of Fergus, this gait dwindled doun
To the level o' a _clachan_ toun?
While thus she suffers the desertion
Of a maist rational diversion,'

he commenced to erect, in 1736, a playhouse in Carrubber's Close. In his
advertisement in the _Caledonian Mercury_, announcing the prospective
opening, he states, he had built the house 'at vast expense,' in order
that, during the winter nights, the citizens might enjoy themselves in
hearing, performed by competent actors, dramas that would amuse,
instruct, and elevate.

His advertisement, in the issue of the _M