Chapter II: Conclusion: Index (2)

[Mr. Ramsay]--We have seen many things of which the ingenious
and very learned Dr. Woodward would say that they were "great
ornaments to our ponds and ditches." But of this enough, and
more than enough. Allow me to take this opportunity of
expressing my satisfaction at finding how completely Mrs.
E.B.R enters into the friendship which has so long existed
between _us_, and at seeing how fully prepared she is to
appreciate your kindness to myself and her; in short, to find
that she loves you all now, as if she had known you as long
as I have. May we never lose sight of these feelings! We saw
Oxford to-day--a good thing, but in detail not equal to
Cambridge--in general effect far superior. Gloster pleased
me: the tower and cloisters surpassingly fine. People do not
roar enough about the steeple of St. Mary's, Oxford--it is
_the finest_ in England, superior I think to that of
Salisbury. Are you aware that there is a modern church at
Oxford in the pure Norman style? My visit to Frome has given
me (except in parting) unmixed satisfaction. I cannot say how
much I have been gratified, and with what pleasure I look
forward to a renewal. I must to bed, my eyes cannot discern
the place to write in, and I am sleepy. Adieu, dearest
friends, one and all at the Field of Frome, the Hill of
Styles, the cottage of Keyford, etc. I rejoice to think that
my good friend _Kay_ is safe. Good-night! Woburn looks
well--"a great ornament," etc.

Marked by Mrs. Clerk--"Written on their way from F.F.--first
visit."

Mr. RAMSAY to Miss BYARD, Fromefield, Frome, Somerset.

Edinburgh, Dec. 17, 1831,

My dearest Friend, They have told me that you are not well,
and neither time nor distance can take away the feeling of
regard and friendship with which I sympathise with all that
occurs to you. I confess myself that I was some time since
disposed to look on all things around me with an anxious
aspect; but I am beginning to see in _all events_ but a part
of that dispensation which is so gloriously distinguished as
the work of _love_, and I think that public calamity or
private sorrow, sickness, pain, weariness and weakness, _may_
all be translated into the same language, and may be arranged
as synonyms of the same word. Yes! piety, goodness, the
favour and approbation of God, are all marked out by sorrow
and infirmity here. Why else did the blessed Jesus tabernacle
here below--a man of sorrows? and why else was he acquainted
with grief? It might make a Christian almost drink his cup of
sickness and pain with _greediness_ when he remembers that he
is tasting the same cup as that of which his Lord drank, and
he might hail with rapture the outstretched arm of death and
suffering as about to place on his head the diadem of eternal
glory. I am not to flatter you--you need it not, you ask it
not; but, my friend, you must feel and know that you have
been walking with God, walking _humbly_, doing good, neither
trusting to false presumptions nor to your own merits. Christ
has been _your_ master, to Him you have looked, and, blessed
be God! He will never, never forsake those who trust to
Him,--those who are good to others for his sake,--those who
seek redemption through Him. Where, O ye years that are past,
have you gone? You have carried to the throne of grace many
an act of contrition, many a devout prayer, many a good deed,
many an offering of faith, from the friend to whom I now
write. Bring back, ye moments that are to come and which
shall be granted to her in this world, rich consolations,
promises of pardon, assurances of favour, all spiritual
blessings! Dear Miss Byard, may all these be yours in full
abundance. May God the Father bless you, through the Eternal
Spirit, for Christ's sake! This is the sincere and earnest
prayer of your affectionate and faithful friend, E.B.R.

In this I am joined by Isabella.

Marked--"It arrived just after her death."

In his journal Mr. Ramsay speaks of Bishop Sandford with a very grateful recollection. To him he owed his preferment, and a "more agreeable charge could not well be had." He characterises him as a man of elegant mind and accurate scholarship, of deep piety and sincere faith. I think it is with some regret that he adds, the "state of the Church is much changed since his episcopate."

His dear brother Marmaduke died in the summer of 1831, and the Dean, who is no exaggerator of his feelings, remarks--"This is one of the sorrows for which language is inadequate. Such a mind, such taste, abilities, and accomplishments!" Edward Ramsay felt that nothing could make up for the loss of his brother, but he had comfort in thinking how much his brother's mind had been wakened to religious inquiries. His simple notes in his journal are sometimes worth preserving. "July 6, 1833, was the finest day I ever remember." He passed it in the Highlands with Professor Forbes, Skenes, and other delightful friends. On the 28th he left for the Duke of Sutherland's funeral; afterwards he repaired to Leamington and Dr. Jephson, whose skill he soon found reason to admire. On leaving Leamington he thanks God that he has gained in health, and learnt also wisdom in regard to the "management of myself, and certainly in diet." It is not necessary to record the little tours with his wife, which now happened almost every season, either to Deeside or the Highlands or his old haunts in Somerset. On July 2, 1836, I find it recorded that he went with a party to hear Dr. Chalmers at the Dean Church, and returned all in great delight. He made a long journey that year to hear the great organ at Birmingham, and came home by many cathedrals, and yet "glad to get home."

In 1838 he notes, after a Highland journey, the "Synod was this year for altering the canons," He notes a "white-stone visit to the Stranges, Ross-end Castle, with the Bells. Alas! how many things and people are gone."

In 1839 "Lady Dalhousie, my admired friend, came to stay with us. She came January 19, and on the 22d died in the drawing-room in an instant! It was an awful visitation, and never to be forgotten."

The following letter, written immediately after the calamity, is from the Marquis of Dalhousie, from various circumstances an object of great affection to the Dean, who consented to take charge of his daughters when he went as Governor-General to India, bestowing on them the care and anxious watchfulness which the young ladies returned with hearty affection:--

The MARQUIS OF DALHOUSIE to DEAN RAMSAY.

Dalhousie Castle, 25th January 1839.

My dear Mr. Ramsay--I have sent John in, partly because I am
anxious that you should let me know how Mrs. Ramsay is
to-day, and partly because I cannot rest till another evening
without endeavouring to express to you some portion of the
very, very deep gratitude which I feel for all your
kindness--for the kindness of your every act and word, and--I
am just as confident--of your every thought towards us all in
this sad time. _God knows how truly I feel it_: and with that
one expression I stop; for it makes me sick to think how slow
and how coldly words come to clothe the feeling which I wish
to convey to you. Believe only this, that to my own dying day
I never can forget your goodness. Believe this too--that
since it has pleased Almighty God that my poor mother's eyes
should not he closed under my roof, and by my hand, I would
not have wished any other place for her departure than among
friends so kindly, loving, and so well loved.

God bless you and repay it to you, prays your ever grateful
and affectionate friend, DALHOUSIE.

Rev. E. B. Ramsay.

February 27, 1839.--"My uncle General Burnett died; another limb of the older generation gone; a good and kind man; a man of the world, and not a clever one. Latterly he showed a considerable desire to know more about religion. Went with J. Sandilands to be present at the formation of a branch of the Church Society at Glasgow--made a regular speech!" On September 4th he writes--"The first day of meeting of the general committee for business of the Scottish Episcopal Church Society. I gave a large dinner. Much have I worked for this society, and done better things than give dinners. By the by William Ramsay [his brother the admiral] made a capital speech." On March 5, 1841, it is noted, Bishop Walker died--"a good man. His mind cast in a limited mould of strong prejudices; but a fair man, strictly honest in all his ways. He was not fitted to unravel difficulties in his episcopate, and scarcely suited to these times. He had been a furious opponent of the old evangelicals. A constant and kind friend to me. May his memory be honoured. Bishop Terrot elected bishop. I am very grateful to think that in all this business I can look with satisfaction upon everything that has been done by me."

From this time Mr. Ramsay's thoughts were very much taken up with the Episcopal Church Society, and he records in his journal most of its meetings, and the English friends who came across the Borders to help them. He mentions also a Scotch Presbyterian churchman who became convinced of the apostolical authority of episcopacy--"an excellent man." Then a visit of Mr. ----, "an accomplished and able man, somewhat strong of the popish leaven." That was in 1842, and on the margin is written--"Gone over to the Church of Rome, 1845." He mentions also the "stupid business at Portobello and squabbles," and his going down to make peace. On September 4th we have some things which seemed important at their time--the Queen's visit to Scotland. He says, "It was a stirring subject for old Scotland." "This day, 4th Sept., I read prayers and preached before her Majesty, and also dined and sat near Prince Albert and the Queen. In the evening presented to the Queen and Prince Albert, and introduced to Sir Robert Peel." Then comes the cry--"All vanity of vanities!" At the end of this month the Bishop of London--"very agreeable"--was in Edinburgh, and the Dean accompanied him to Glenalmond, to see the proposed site for Trinity College. In 1843 he mentions the death of a friend, who, he feared, died an infidel: "However, I have no wish to proclaim his errors. To me he was ever kind and considerate. Let us leave judgment to Him who cannot err." In June of that year he paid a visit to England, spent Sunday at Leeds, and was much interested with Dr. Hook and his church. "I have considerable dubitation as to the expediency of making the services of our parish churches choral." He went on to London and Oxford, where it was long vacation, but he met with great kindness from the heads of University College and Exeter. "Magdalene is faultless."

After mentioning some visitors in March 1844, he writes--"Dickens's Christmas Carol really a treat, a thoroughly wholesome book." On the 8th April he was present at the lunch given to the children of the Episcopal poor in the Old Town. "This, I trust, is the commencement of a scheme to bring some actually poor into our church. I made a speech, and, to my astonishment, rather a good one." After a pretty long tour in the south of England he comes home in August 1844, and notes a letter from the Bishop of London, containing the offer of the Bishopric of New Brunswick, in a handsome and gratifying manner. "I think I was right to refuse. May God forgive me if it was an improper shrinking from duty." October 14, 1844: "I have now brought up this record of my life's transactions to the present time, and my purpose is, in future journalising, to take the leading points, to notice subjects only, painful, joyful, or difficult. All my thoughts since the offer of the New Brunswick mitre have confirmed the correctness of my judgment." October 17, 1844: "I am trying to repeat the experiment of last week, and write my sermon over again. I see clearly that in such work we cannot take too much pains: dinner at Lord Medwyn's to-day--very pleasant--rather an exception this to dinners: how dull the routine! October 22: succeeded in my resolution of rewriting the whole of my sermon, and found the advantage; in fact, nothing in the way of public speaking can be done without a thorough preparation. How high parties are running! It has a sad effect on my mind; but my refuge must be in keeping off controversy and adhering to edifying and practical subjects." In the same month he records the death of a dear friend, whom he visited on his deathbed. "Nothing," he says, "could be more satisfactory than his state of mind;" the Dean lost a kind Christian, attached and delightful friend. "I was glad to be able to answer his scruples and fears about being an object of Christ's mercy and pardon." December 11, 1844, he lost his mother--"simple-minded," he says, "as a child. Oh! what a break of the family circle! It seems as if the last link which bound us together were broken, and a point vanished round which we could always rally. I went with Lauderdale to see the poor remains, so attenuated, and yet the countenance like itself, still beautiful, and fine features." The funeral made the Dean very sad. She was followed to the grave by two sons, a son-in-law, two grandsons and distant cousins. Mr. Alison read the service, and she was buried beside her old friend of fifty years--poor Mrs. Macdonald.

1844: "Christmas day morning, Communion 78, in all 404; the church so full. I preached an old but a good sermon." He has a Christmas dinner of a few friends, but not much Christmas spirit, he says. In 1845, January 12, the journal notices--"I preached my liturgy sermon, and apparently with much success." Some of his congregation had spoken of it as worthy to be printed. He saw a good deal of company in his own house, whom I do not think it necessary to particularise, though they were generally of distinction for talent or rank, or both together. He heard C. Kemble read Henry VIII., which "I did much enjoy. Will. Shakspeare when most known is most admired." On 19th January he preached a sermon, but his note upon it is not like the last. "I liked it, but it did not seem to take as I had expected. Have been much meditating this week on many matters, Church especially: find myself unsettled, I fear, but I think I have the remedy, which is to keep my attention fixed rather on practical than on speculative points. We cannot agree on the one; on the other we may, and good men do." March 2, 1845: "I confess that the Romanising tendencies so openly avowed in the Church of England alarm me. The question occurs, Is not this a necessary, or at least a natural tendency of High Churchism?" Speaking of meetings of his Synod, he says "it is wretched work, which ended, indeed, in doing nothing." One member had spoken with much bitterness, which he says, "thank God, I do not feel." 3d April 1845: "We are in a nice mess about this Old Town business. Two different communion offices in one day in the same chapel. Is it possible that this could ever have been contemplated by the canon? I do fear the extreme and Romanising party, and they hurt us here. The Scotch office is supposed to identify us with them, and certainly the comments upon it make it speak a language very different from the English."

June 19.--"Left home in the 'Engineer' coach at seven, travelled through to London without stop, and arrived there at one o'clock: wonderful the shortening of this journey; went with a party to Handel's Athalia at Exeter Hall; tired, fagged, and sleepy as I was, I yet felt deeply the power of the mighty master in this his mighty work. Yes, Handel is the greatest musician the world ever saw."

July 18, 1845.--"Returned to London: did little more there: arrived in Edinburgh for Mr. Sandiland's marriage, a great stretch of friendship in me, for it has discomposed all our summer plans." On 15th August there is an entry too characteristic to be omitted:--"Have been thinking a great deal about the state of matters at present, and the sort of demeanour I should exhibit to the world. I should be very cautious--hardly give an opinion if conflicting statements, and certainly not gossip about them--certainly not speak harshly or severely of any. Keep my own course, work hard, and endeavour to conciliate; rather lean to high than low side." November 10, 1845: "at a meeting to hear Dr. Simpson, Mr. Macfarlane, and Norman Macleod give an account of their mission to North America: interesting. Macleod a real clever fellow."

26th November 1845.--"The consecration of Dalkeith Chapel: we went out and stayed the day; all good and well managed: Sermon preached by Rev. E. B. R: approved: three bishops, twenty clergy. It is really a fine thing for a man to have done; a beautiful chapel; hope it won't be extreme."

Dec. 2.--"Warden to College appointed; looks like business!"

Dec. 7.--"Heard astonishing news--William appointed to the 'Terrible, the largest steam man-of-war in the service--in the world."

Dec. 14, 1845.--"Sermon on Christ the True Light. Collection for Scottish Episcopal Church Society, £151."

15th March 1846.--"Sermon, 'Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth?' Here a sad blank, for I have been very ill, and out of chapel two Sundays, and could not go to confirmation, and all sorts of horrors. I have communed a good deal with myself, and I have made up my mind to a conduct and demeanour in Church matters almost neutral. I positively will not again mix myself up in any way with party, or even take part. I will confine myself to St. John's and its duties. This is my _line_--hear what every one has to say, and keep a quiet, conciliatory, and even tenor. It is more striking the more I think of the different way in which different minds are affected by religious truth." ...

April 16.--"Synod meeting and Society. I took the moderate and conciliatory side. Did right this time."

April 29.--"Preached the Casuistry sermon. Mrs. R. made it A 20."

June 1.--"Busy preparing for journey;" he leaves home for his summer holiday "with rather less spirit and expectation of enjoyment than usual."

Mr. Ramsay was appointed Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh by Bishop Terrot in 1846, after having previously declined, as we saw, the dignity of the Bishopric of New Brunswick, offered him by Sir Robert Peel. He afterwards refused the Bishopric of Glasgow in 1847, and the Coadjutor-Bishopric of Edinburgh in 1862.

And now is the beginning of constantly recurring complaints of depression--low spirits, a "cloud upon my spirits; headache, even pain and violent pain." He was disappointed at not getting to see the "Terrible;" was low and depressed. "Went to Bath. Delighted with Torquay; interested at Exeter; the service there the very best. Is cathedral service more than a solemn concert?" Then he went by Beaminster to see his nephew Alexander and his family. He stayed a short time at Crewkerne with his niece Mrs. Sparks. "Church a fine one: To Frome: This visit full of interest. How kind and good! The only drawback is parting. We spent a week at Frome, and did enjoy it much. Much kindness, heartiness I should say, intelligence, and real goodness. Changes I found, and saw how time had told on many a face and frame. My dear companion was much pleased and interested in our visit.... July 16.--Left Frome, and sorrowed at parting. Saw Sydney Herbert's gorgeous church at Wilton. Too much! With the exterior of Salisbury not at all disappointed; with the interior a little. Arrived at Farnborough by eight o'clock, and a most cordial welcome we had from all the inmates of its pretty rectory. Went back to London on Friday, and returned to Farnborough Saturday, and spent Sunday. July 19.--Was glad for Isabella to have an opportunity of seeing a Sunday in a country place in England. I preached twice, and we were interested. Aug. 4.--Came to York. Glorious! Chapter-house restored by Mr. Bell."

January 1, 1851.--"Having preached on Sunday last regarding improvement and good resolutions, I would now do the same for myself. I have made some resolutions in my own mind, chiefly regarding the control and regulation of temper, irritability, forbearance, more composed and calm temperament, order, diligence, dispatch of work, etc." On January 6th there is a Ragged School meeting--"a long and tiresome meeting; the Duke of A---- speaks well; Guthrie amusing; Fox Maule good; Candlish clever--very."

On his birthday in 1853 he writes: "I have just made two resolves--first, never to give way to temper, fret, ill-humour, party spirit, or prejudice; second, to work my best in what I may have still to do."

There is a great deal more of the journal, but one or two additional extracts will show sufficiently the nature of the man, his devotion to his sacred duty, his gentleness, and love of peace. The High Churchman may think him unduly careless about forms and ceremonies; but, loving him very well, I yet wish to represent the Dean as he really was. Above all things full of charity, loving religion as he understood the religion of the Gospel, and not much concerned, not really deeply concerned, about the shape and dress in which it presented itself. He held, however, that the Protestant Episcopal Church, as established in England, as disestablished in Scotland, for he never would separate them, was in all its belongings the most desirable, its service the most decent.

1858 was a sad year for the Dean. Mrs. Ramsay had been very ill, and sinking in strength and spirit visibly, till, on the 23d July the afflicted husband makes this entry:--"It pleased God to visit me with the deep and terrible affliction of taking away my friend, companion, and adviser of twenty-nine years." It was a heavy blow, and for a time it seemed to paralyse the Dean. This journal, never regular, becomes from this time quite broken.

Looking back from this point, which to the Dean seemed the end of happiness, he could acknowledge how duty supplied the place of pleasure. He was grateful also for many mercies. In one respect he was singularly fortunate. His Bishop and he, I may say during all the time he served in St. John's, were cordially of the same way of thinking. Bishop Terrot was indeed a very different man from himself, but in the relations of Bishop and Dean they were very happy. The Dean wrote a little memoir of Bishop Terrot, which he published in the _Scottish Guardian_ (May 15, 1872), where he prints the remarkable letter from the Bishop to himself, answering the question why he declined communion with Mr. Drummond, and ending with the sentence--"These are matters of _ecclesiastical police_ which each local church has a right to manage in its own way, subject to the law of the Catholic Church, i.e. the Bible." The Dean then bore testimony that he had always found his Bishop an interesting companion, a kind friend, a faithful and judicious adviser, and he speaks highly, and surely not too highly, of his great intellectual powers, as well as of his moral qualities. I am myself a very hearty admirer of Bishop Terrot, and I think it not out of place to add something to our knowledge of him, by printing a few letters which concern him and his family.

COLONEL TERROT to DEAN RAMSAY.--Without date, but of the
year 1872.

Very Rev. and dear Sir--There is one little incorrect
deduction in your kind memoir, or at least a deduction which
may be made from what you say of my father deriving his
intellect from his mother---that my grandfather was inferior
in such respects. From deep feeling and devotion to his
memory, my grandmother never spoke of her husband to us, but
from others I have heard that he was a bright, handsome and
talented young man, who, with the very imperfect education
given at that time to officers in the army, and employed in
active service in America at the age of fourteen, was yet
distinguished for ability, especially in mathematics and
engineering matters, so that he was employed by those in
command of the siege, and was actually riding with the
engineer who was in charge of the sieging operations when a
cannon-ball struck and killed him. He was in an English
infantry regiment, and not in the Indian service, except that
the regiment was serving in India at the time. He met my
grandmother in the ship which took them to India. She was
going to a maternal uncle, Colonel Hughes, who was
considerably displeased on her announcing at Madras that she
was engaged to a poor young officer who had offered to her
during the voyage. But the young couple being determined, he
gave his consent, and continued kind to his niece, and my
father was born in his house, and at his father's request
called Hughes after him. My grandfather was twenty-five and
his bride eighteen at their marriage, and she was a widow
before she was twenty, from which time till she died at
eighty-five she was a widow indeed, making her son the chief
object of her life, living in and for him.

His uncle William, whom he succeeded at Haddington, was never
married, and was exceedingly attached to my father. He was a
singular man; in his early days very gay and handsome, and
living in some matters, I know not what, so incorrectly, that
on offering himself for holy orders, the then Bishop of
Durham wrote to him mentioning something he had heard, and
telling him if it was true he was not fitly prepared for
taking orders. My uncle acknowledged the accusation as far as
it was true, and thanked the Bishop for his letter, and
abstained from coming forward at that time, but took the
admonition so to heart that it led to an entire conversion of
heart and life. He then came forward in a very different
state to receive ordination, and was through his whole life a
most zealous and devoted man, a friend of Milner and
Wilberforce. An old lady, Mrs. Logan of Seafield, told me
that once when Mrs. Siddons was acting, uncle William walked
twenty miles to see her and persuade her not to go, and,
whether by arguments or eloquence, he succeeded. Though kind
and gentle he was a strong Calvinist, and by his zeal and
energy in preaching such doctrines, injured himself in a
worldly point of view. He was always poor, and often gave
away all the little he had, and lived from hand to mouth. He
was very much admired and beloved by ladies, which perhaps
prevented his marrying. He was very happy and useful among
the sailors, and died at his sister's, Mrs. Jackson, at
Woolwich. She, as Elizabeth Terrot, had been a beauty, and
was to the last a fine, happy, spirited, contented and joking
old lady, very fond of my father, to whom she left all she
had. She was bright, unselfish and amusing, even on her
deathbed incapable of despondency or gloom.

Excuse my troubling you with these details; and believe me to
be truly grateful for your graceful tribute to our dear
father. I send a few lines for your private eye, written by
my sister Mary, expressing what she felt on last seeing him,
and it expresses, too, exactly what I felt that last Good
Friday as he sat in that chair in which he had so long
suffered. I never saw him there again, With deep respect,
gratefully yours, S.A. TERROT.

LINES by MISS MARY TERROT, now MRS. MALCOLM.

I.

Sad, silent, broken down, longing for rest, His noble head bent meekly on his breast, Bent to the bitter storm that o'er it swept; I looked my last, and surely, then I thought, Surely the conflict's o'er, the battle's fought; To see him thus, the Saviour might have wept.

II.

His rest was near--his everlasting rest; No more I saw him weary and oppressed. _There_ in the majesty of death he lay For ever comforted: I could not weep; He slept, dear father! his last blessed sleep, Bright in the dawn of the eternal day.

III.

And thou, whose hand _his_, groping, sought at last, The faithful hand that he might hold it fast! Once more, when parting on the eternal shore, It may be, when thy heart and hand shall fail, Entering the shadows of death's awful vale His hand shall grasp thine, groping then no more.

DEAN STANLEY to DEAN RAMSAY.

My dear Dean--Many thanks for your very interesting memoir of
Bishop Terrot. His remark about _humdrum_ and _humbug_ is
worthy of the best days of Sydney Smith, and so is a hit
about table-turning[10]. I once heard him preach, and still
remember with pleasure the unexpected delight it gave to my
dear mother and myself. We did not know in the least what was
coming, either from the man or the text, and it was
excellent.--Yours sincerely,

A.P. STANLEY.

Deanery, Westminster, 1872.

Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.

Hawarden, May 26, 1872

My dear Friend--I have read with much interest your graceful
and kindly memoir of Bishop Terrot, which you were so good as
to send me.

He had always appeared to me as a very real and notable, and
therefore interesting man, though for some reason not
apparent a man _manqué_, a man who ought to have been more
notable than he was. I quite understand and follow you in
placing him with, or rather in the class of, Whately and
Paley, but he fell short of the robust activity of the first,
and of that wonderful clearness of the other, which is actual
brightness.

Your account of the question of Lordship is to me new and
interesting. I have never called the Scottish Bishops by that
title. I should be content to follow the stream, but then we
must deal equally, and there is the case of the Anglo-Roman
bishop to meet, especially now that the Ecclesiastical Titles
Bill has been repealed; but only on Friday I addressed one of
the very best among them "Right Rev. Bishop M----."

You will, I am sure, allow me the license of private judgment
in the two expositions about the church in p. 5. You praise
both, but the second the more highly. To me the first seems
excellent, and the second, strange to say, wanting in his
usual clearness and consecutiveness. For having in head (1)
most truly said that Christ "instituted a society _and_
revealed a doctrine," he then proceeds as if he had quite
forgotten the first half of the proposition, and conceived of
the society only as (so to speak) embedded in the doctrine.
Also, I complain of his depriving you of the character of
[Greek: iegeus], which indeed I am rather inclined to claim
for myself, as "He hath made us kings and priests" ([Greek:
hiegeis]).

I hope you are gradually maturing the idea of your promised
summer expedition to the south, and that before long I shall
hear from you on the subject of it.

Will you remember me kindly to Miss Cochrane, and believe me,
ever affectionately yours,

W.E. GLADSTONE.

The Dean was greatly affected by a terrible calamity, which happened in his house in Ainslie Place, where, in June of 1866, his niece Lucy Cochrane, one of his family, was burnt to death; out of many letters of condolence which he received at the time, I have only space to insert three--one from the Rev. Dr. Hannah, then head of Glenalmond College, an accomplished scholar, to whom our Dean was much attached, and upon whom he drew very freely in any questions of more recondite scholarship, another from the Rev. D.T.K. Drummond, and the third from the Premier:--

Rev. Dr. J. HANNAH to DEAN RAMSAY.

Trinity College, Glenalmond, N.B.

June 15, 1866.

Dear Mr. Dean--I _must_ write one line, though I know you
will be overwhelmed with letters, to say how deeply
distressed and shocked we are at the news in this morning's
paper, and how profoundly we sympathize with you under this
fearful affliction. I thought instantly of Mr. Keble's lovely
poem in the Lyra Innocentium:--

"Sweet maiden, for so calm a life, Too bitter seemed thine end."

And it applies closely, I am sure, in the consolations it
suggests; that

"He who willed her tender frame Should rear the martyr's robe of flame,"

has prepared for her a garland in Heaven,

"Tinged faintly with such golden light As crowns His martyr train."

But if blessed for her, it will be a sore trial for the
survivors. We feel so keenly for her poor sisters, who seem
to have to bear the brunt of so many sorrows. May God support
them and you! So prays in hearty sympathy, yours ever
sincerely,

J. HANNAH.

Rev. D.T.K. DRUMMOND to DEAN RAMSAY.

St. Fillans, Crieff, 16th June.

My dear Friend--This morning's paper brought us the sad, sad
intelligence of the frightful calamity which has befallen
your household.

My heart aches when I think of the overwhelming sorrow this
great affliction must bring to your kind and loving heart.
Long friendship and unbroken esteem must be my apology for
intruding on you at this early stage of your bereavement. I
cannot but express my deep and heart-felt sympathy with you
in it, and my earnest prayer that God the Holy Spirit may
sanctify and comfort by his own grace and presence all on
whom this great sorrow has fallen.

In the expression of this sympathy my dear wife cordially
unites with yours most affectionately and truly,

D.T.K. DRUMMOND.

Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.

11 Carlton H. Terrace,

June 16, 1866.

My dear Dean Ramsay--I cannot refrain from writing to you a
word of sympathy under the grievous calamity with which your
peaceful and united household has in the providence of God
been visited. I have only heard of it in a very partial
account to-day; but I deeply lament alike the extinction of a
young and promising life, the loss your affectionate heart
has sustained, and the circumstances of horror with which it
has been accompanied. I need not say how this concern extends
to your brother the Admiral also. I shall hope to hear of you
through some common friend. I cannot ask you to write, but
beg you to believe me always affectionately yours,

W.E. GLADSTONE.

Very few of the Dean's own letters have been preserved, but the following will show him as a correspondent:--

DEAN RAMSAY to Dr. ALEXANDER.

23 Ainslie Place, Feb. 3, 1865

Dear Dr. Lindsay Alexander--I am not aware of having an
undue predominance of modesty in my nature, but really I have
been surprised, I may truly say much amazed, at the
dedication of the volume which I received this evening. Need
I add that, on more calmly considering the matter, I am
deeply gratified. From Dr. Lindsay Alexander such a
compliment can be no ordinary gratification. "Laudari a
laudatis" has always been a distinction coveted by those who
value the opinion of the wise and good.

I thank you most cordially for the delicacy with which you
refer to the "most stedfast adherence to conviction" of one
who has long been convinced that no differences in matter of
polity or forms of worship ought to violate that "unity of
spirit," or sever that "bond of peace," in which we should
ever seek to join all those whom we believe sincerely to hold
the truth as it is in Jesus.--I am always, with sincere
regard, yours truly and obliged,

E.B. RAMSAY.

DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLERK, Kingston Deverell.

23 Ainslie Place,

Edinburgh, March 14, 1865.

Dearest Stuart--I take great blame and sorrow to myself for
having left your kind letter to me on my birthday so long
unanswered. It was indeed a charming letter, and how it took
me back to the days of "Auld lang Syne!" They were happy
days, and good days, and the savour of them is pleasant. Do
you know (you don't know) next Christmas day is forty-two
years since I left Frome, and forty-nine years since I went
to Frome? Well! they were enjoyable days, and rational days,
and kind-hearted days. What jokes we used to have! O dear!
How many are gone whom we loved and honoured! I often think
of my appearing at Frome, falling like a stranger from the
clouds, and finding myself taken to all your hearts, and made
like one of yourselves. Do you know Mrs. Watkins is alive and
clever, and that I constantly correspond with her? You
recollect little Mary Watkins at Berkely. She is now a
grandmother and has three or four grandchildren!--ay, time
passes on. It does. I have had a favoured course in Scotland;
I have been thirty-seven years in St. John's, and met only
with kindness and respect. I have done much for my church,
and that is acknowledged by every one. My Catechism is in a
tenth edition--my Scottish Book in an eleventh; 3000 copies
were sold the first week of the cheap or people's edition. I
meet with much attention from all denominations. A very able
man here, Dr. Lindsay Alexander, an Indpendent, has just
dedicated a book (a good one) to Dean Ramsay, with a
flattering dedication. But I don't expect to hold on _much_
longer. I feel changed, and at times not equal to much
exertion. It was a terrible change for me to lose my
companion of twenty-nine years, and I have never, of course,
recovered that loss. It is a great point for a person like me
to have three nieces, quite devoted to care of me and to make
me happy: cheerful, animated, and intelligent, pretty
also--one of them an excellent musician, and _organist_ to
our amateur choir for week days in the chapel. By the by we
have a glorious organ. How I have gone on about my miserable
self--quite egotistical. "If I may be allowed the language"
(the late Capt. Balne). But I thought you would like it.
Good-bye. Love to Malcolm _Kenmore_. When do your boys come?
Your ever loving and affectionate old friend,

E.B. RAMSAY.

DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLERK.

23 Ainslie Place,

Edinburgh, 12th Feb. 1868.

Many thanks for writing about our beloved Bessie, my very
dear Stuart. She is indeed much endeared to all the friends,
and I am a friend of more than 50 years! God's will be done.
We have come to that age when we must know our time is
becoming very uncertain.

There is only one thing, dearest Stuart, that I _can_
say--my best wishes, best affections, best prayers, are with
her who now lies on a sick bed. _She_ has not to begin the
inquiry into the love and support of a gracious Redeemer. She
may say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."

May God be merciful and gracious to support you all on this
deeply interesting occasion, is the earnest prayer of your
affectionate old friend, E. B. RAMSAY.

DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLEKK.

23 Ainslie Place,

Edinburgh, 3d June 1870.

My dear Stuart--I had such a kind letter from you some time
ago, about visiting you, and I did not answer it--wrong,
very! and I am sorry I put it off. Should I come to England
this summer I should look on it as a _last_ visit, and would
make an effort to see old Frome again. Do you know it is
fifty-four years since I first appeared at Rodden!

I preach still, and my voice and articulation don't fail; but
otherwise I am changed, and walk I cannot at all. St. John's
goes on as usual--nice people, many, and all are very kind.
We have lately had the interior renewed, and some changes in
the arrangement, which are great improvement. It is much
admired, "a great ornament to our ponds and ditches,"--Dr.
Woodward. However, dear Stuart, I have not yet said
distinctly enough what I meant to say at the beginning--that
should I come south I would make an effort to come to
K. Deverell.

Miss Walker has left fully £200,000 to our church. I am at
present (as Dean) the only Episcopal trustee, with four
official trustees--all Presbyterians.

The Bishops seem the most _go-ahead_ people in the church
just now. New sectioning and revision of Scripture,
translation, all come from them: both of much importance. I
wish they could get rid of the so-called Athanasian Creed. I
cannot bear it. Nothing on earth could ever induce me to
repeat the first part and the last part. Love to yourself,
husband, and all yours.--Your affectionate

E.B. RAMSAY.

DEAN STANLEY to DEAN RAMSAY.

Broomhall, Dunfermline,

7th August 1870.

My dear and venerable Brother Dean--It was very ungrateful of
me not to have thanked you before for your most kind
vindication of my act in Westminster Abbey. I had read your
letter with the greatest pleasure, and must now thank you for
letting me have a separate copy of it. I certainly have no
reason to be dissatisfied with my defenders. All the bishops
who have spoken on the subject (with the single exception of
the Bishop of Winchester) have approved the step--so I
believe have a vast majority of English churchmen.

How any one could expect that I should make a distinction
between confirmed and unconfirmed communicants, which would
render any administration in the abbey impossible, or that I
should distinguish between the different shades of orthodoxy
in the different nonconformist communions, I cannot conceive.
I am sure that I acted as a good churchman. I humbly hope
that I acted as He who first instituted the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper would have wished.

You are very kind to have taken so much interest in my
essays, and what you say of the Athanasian Creed is deeply
instructive. You will be glad to hear--what will become
public in a few days--that of the 29 Royal Commissioners, 18
at least--including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
Bishops of St. David's and Carlisle and the two Regius
Professors of Divinity--have declared themselves against
continuing the use of it.

I found your note here when we arrived last night to assist
at the coming of age of young Lord Elgin. We were obliged to
pass rapidly through Edinburgh, in order to reach this by
nightfall. In case I am able to come over this week to
Edinburgh, should I find you at home, and at what hour?

It would probably be on Thursday that I could most easily
come.--Yours sincerely,

A.P. STANLEY.

DEAN RAMSAY to Rev. MALCOLM CLERK,

Kingston Deverell, Warminster, Wilts.

23 Ainslie Place, Edin., Sept. 5 [1872].

My dear Malcolm Clerk--Many thanks for your remarks touching
the Athanasian Creed. I agree quite, and am satisfied we gain
nothing by retaining it, and lose much. You ask if I could
help to get facsimiles; I am not likely--not in my line I
fear. Should anything turn up I will look after it. One of
the propositions to which unlimited faith must be given, is
drawn from an analogy, which expresses the most obscure of
all questions in physics--i.e. the union of mind and matter,
the what constitutes one mortal being--all very well to use
in explanation or illustration, but as a positive article of
faith in itself, monstrous. Then the Filioque to be insisted
on as eternal death to deny!

People hold such views. A writer in the _Guardian_ (Mr.
Poyntz) maintains that God looks with more favour upon a man
living in SIN than upon one who has seceded ever so small
from orthodoxy. Something must be done, were it only to stop
the perpetual, as we call it in Scottish phrase,
_blethering_!

I am always glad to hear of your boys. My love to Stuart, and
same to thyself.--Thine affectionate fourscore old friend,

E.B. RAMSAY.

I am preparing a twenty-second edition of _Reminiscences_. Who would have thought it? No man.

I have not hitherto made any mention of the Dean's most popular book, the _Reminiscences_. I cannot write but with respect of a work in which he was very much interested, and where he showed his knowledge of his countrymen so well. As a critic, I must say that his style is peculiarly unepigrammatic; and yet what collector of epigrams or epigrammatic stories has ever done what the Dean has done for Scotland? It seems as if the wilful excluding of point was acceptable, otherwise how to explain the popularity of that book? All over the world, wherever Scotch men and Scotch language have made their way--and that embraces wide regions--the stories of the _Reminiscences_, and Dean Ramsay's name as its author, are known and loved as much as the most popular author of this generation. In accounting for the marvellous success of the little book, it should not be forgotten that the anecdotes are not only true to nature, but actually true, and that the author loved enthusiastically Scotland, and everything Scotch. But while there were so many things to endear it to the peasantry of Scotland, it was not admired by them alone. I insert a few letters to show what impression it made on those whom one would expect to find critical, if not jealous. Dickens, the king of story-tellers; Dr. Guthrie, the most picturesque of preachers; Bishop Wordsworth, Dean Stanley, themselves masters of style--how eagerly they received the simple stories of Scotland told without ornament.

BISHOP WORDSWORTH to DEAN RAMSAY.

The Feu House, Perth, January 12, 1872.

My dear Dean--Your kind, welcome and most elegant present
reached me yesterday--in bed; to which, and to my sofa, I
have been confined for some days by a severe attack of brow
ague; and being thus disabled for more serious employment, I
allowed my thoughts to run upon the lines which you will find
over leaf. Please to accept them as being _well intended_;
though (like many other good intentions) I am afraid they
give only too true evidence of the source from which they
come--viz., _disordered head._--Yours very sincerely,

C. WORDSWORTH,

_Bp. of St. Andrews_.

Ad virum venerabilem, optimum, dilectissimum, EDVARDUM B. RAMSAY, S.T.P., Edinburgi Decanum, accepto ejus libro cui titulus _Reminiscences_, etc.; vicesimum jam lautiusque et amplius edito.

Editio accessit vicesima! plaudite quiequid
Scotia festivi fert lepidique ferax!
Non vixit frustra qui frontem utcunque severam,
Noverit innocuis explicuisse jocis:
Non frustra vixit qui tot monumenta priorum
Salsa pia vetuit sedulitate mori:
Non frustra vixit qui quali nos sit amore
Vivendum, exemplo præcipiensque docet:
Nec merces te indigna manet: juvenesque senesque
Gaudebunt nomen concelebrare tuum;
Condiet appositum dum fercula nostra salinum,
Præbebitque suas mensa secunda nuces;
Dum stantis rhedæ aurigam tua pagina fallet,
Contentum in sella tædia longa pati!
Quid, quod et ipsa sibi devinctum Scotia nutrix
Te perget gremio grata fovere senem;
Officiumque pium simili pietate rependens,
Sæcula nulla sinet non[11] meminisse Tui.

The TRANSLATION is from the pen of DEAN STANLEY:--

Hail, Twentieth Edition! From Orkney to Tweed,
Let the wits of all Scotland come running to read.
Not in vain hath he lived, who by innocent mirth
Hath lightened the frowns and the furrows of earth:
Not in vain hath he _lived_, who will never let _die_
The humours of good times for ever gone by:
Not in vain hath he _lived_, who hath laboured to give
In himself the best proof how by love we may _live_.
Rejoice, our dear Dean, thy reward to behold
In united rejoicing of young and of old;
Remembered, so long as our boards shall not lack
A bright grain of salt or a hard nut to crack;
So long as the cabman aloft on his seat,
Broods deep o'er thy page as he waits in the street!
Yea, Scotland herself, with affectionate care,
Shall nurse an old age so beloved and so rare;
And still gratefully seek in her heart to enshrine
One more _Reminiscence_, and that shall be Thine.

From the DEAN of WESTMINSTER.

The Deanery, Westminster,

February 3, 1872.

My dear elder (I cannot say eldest so long as the Dean of
Winchester lives) Brother--I am very glad that you are
pleased with my attempt to render into English the Bishop's
beautiful Latinity....

Accept our best wishes for many happy returns of the day just
past.--Yours sincerely,

A.P. STANLEY.

On the publication of the Twentieth Edition of the _Reminiscences_, Professor Blackie addressed to the Dean the following sonnets:--

I.

Hail! wreathed in smiles, thou genial book! and hail
Who wove thy web of bright and various hue,
The wise old man, who gleaned the social tale
And thoughtful jest and roguish whim, that grew
Freely on Scotland's soil when Scotland knew
To be herself, nor lusted to assume
Smooth English ways--that they might live and bloom
With freshness, ever old and ever new
In human hearts. Thrice happy he who knows
With sportive light the cloudy thought to clear,
And round his head the playful halo throws
That plucks the terror from the front severe:
Such grace was thine, and such thy gracious part,
Thou wise old Scottish man of large and loving heart.

II.

The twentieth edition! I have looked
Long for my second--but it not appears;
Yet not the less I joy that thou hast brooked
Rich fruit of fair fame, and of mellow years,
Thou wise old man, within whose saintly veins
No drop of gall infects life's genial tide,
Whose many-chambered human heart contains
No room for hatred and no home for pride.
Happy who give with stretch of equal love
This hand to Heaven and that to lowly earth,
Wise there to worship with great souls above
As here to sport with children in their mirth;
Who own one God with kindly-reverent eyes
In flowers that prink the earth, and stars that gem the skies.

JOHN STUART BLACKIE.

CHARLES DICKENS to DEAN RAMSAY.

Gad's Hill Place, Higham, by Rochester, Kent,

Tuesday, 29th May 1866.

My dear Sir--I am but now in the receipt of your kind letter,
and its accompanying book. If I had returned home sooner, I
should sooner have thanked you for both.

I cannot adequately express to you the gratification I have
derived from your assurance that I have given you pleasure.
In describing yourself as a stranger of whom I know nothing,
you do me wrong however. The book I am now proud to possess
as a mark of your goodwill and remembrance has for some time
been too well known to me to admit of the possibility of my
regarding its writer in any other light than as a friend in
the spirit; while the writer of the introductory page marked
viii. in the edition of last year[12] had commanded my
highest respect as a public benefactor and a brave soul.

I thank you, my dear Sir, most cordially, and I shall always
prize the words you have inscribed in this delightful volume,
very, very highly.--Yours faithfully and obliged,

CHARLES DICKENS.

Dr. GUTHRIE to DEAN RAMSAY.

1 Salisbury Road,

30th October 1872.

My dear Mr. Dean--My honoured and beloved friend, I have
received many sweet, tender, and Christian letters touching
my late serious illness, but among them all none I value
more, or almost so much, as your own.

May the Lord bless you for the solace and happiness it gave
to me and mine! How perfect the harmony in our views as to
the petty distinctions around which--sad and shame to think
of it--such fierce controversies have raged! I thank God that
I, like yourself, have never attached much importance to
these externals, and have had the fortune to be regarded as
rather loose on such matters. We have just, by God's grace,
anticipated the views and aspects they present on a deathbed.

I must tell you how you helped us to pass many a weary,
restless hour. After the Bible had been read to me in a low
monotone--when I was seeking sleep and could not find it--a
volume of my published sermons was tried, and sometimes very
successfully, as a soporific. I was familiar with them, and
yet they presented as much novelty as to divert my mind from
my troubles. And what if this failed? then came the
_Reminiscences_ to entertain me, and while away the long
hours when all hope of getting sleep's sweet oblivion
was given up!

So your book was one of my many mercies. But oh, how great in
such a time the unspeakable mercy of a full, free, present
salvation! In Wesley's words

"I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me."

I have had a bit of a back-throw, but if you could come
between three and four on Friday, I would rejoice to see
you.--Ever yours, with the greatest esteem,

THOMAS GUTHRIE.

Miss STIRLING GRAHAM to DEAN RAMSAY.

Duntrune, 8th January 1872.

My dear Mr. Dean--I thank you very much for the gift of your
new edition of "Scottish Reminiscences," and most especially
for the last few pages on Christian union and liberality,
which I have read with delight.