Allan Ramsay was born around 15 October 1684 (some sources cite 1685 or 1686) in the rugged mining village of Leadhills, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He entered the world in a place defined by the harsh rhythms of lead extraction, where the hills echoed with the labor of men toiling for the Hopetoun estates. His father, Robert Ramsay, served as manager of Lord Hopetoun’s lead mines, a position of modest responsibility that…
“There is nothing can be heard more silly than one's expressing his Ignorance of his native Language; yet such there are, who can vaunt of acquiring a tolerable Perfection in the French or Italian Tongues, if they have been a Forthnight in Paris or a Month in Rome: But shew them the most elegant Thoughts in a Scots Dress, they as disdainfully as stupidly condemn it as barbarous.”