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…
“That I have expressed my Thought in my native Dialect, was not only my Inclination, but the Desire of my best and wisest Friends; and most reasonable, since good Imagery, just Similes, and all Manner of ingenious Thoughts, in a well laid Design, disposed into Numbers, is Poetry. Then good Poetry may be in any Language.”