=25. Literature and Art.=--After the Union, the English dialect of the Lowlands ceased to be the language of literature and of the upper ranks in society. Thus the national literature of the country came to an end, and the works of Scotchmen went to swell the mass of English Literature. But even in this period Scotland has had, besides many smaller songsters, two poets peculiarly her own, who have sung in the dialect still spoken by the people. _Allan Ramsay_, born in _Clydesdale_ in 1685, began life as a barber's boy in _Edinburgh_; he then turned poet and bookseller, and besides his own poems, which were very popular, he collected and published the songs and ballads of the forgotten bards of earlier days. Nearly a century later lived _Robert Burns_, the peasant poet, a cotter's son, born in _Ayrshire_ in 1759. His genius overcame the disadvantages of his humble birth, and inspired innumerable songs, which place him in the first rank among poets of all nations, and will win for him an abiding place in the hearts of his fellow-countrymen as long as a Scottish tongue is left to sing them. _Adam Smith_, who by his "Wealth of Nations," published in 1776, may be said to have founded the science of _Political Economy_, was born at _Kirkaldy_, and was Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow; and about the same time _Dr. Robertson_, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, wrote several historical works of great merit. _David Hume_, the infidel philosopher, was born at Edinburgh in 1711. He is best known as the author of a popular but untrustworthy History of England. _Tobias Smollett_, the humourist, was a native of Cardross. Besides several very clever novels, the best of which are "Humphrey Clinker" and "Roderick Random," he wrote a complete History of England from the first historical mention of Britain down to the year 1768. The latter part of this history is now generally added to the History by Hume, who did not carry his work down to later times than the Revolution. _Hugh Blair_, a Presbyterian divine, wrote "Lectures on Belles Lettres" and several volumes of sermons which are still highly esteemed. _Dugald Stewart_, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, was distinguished as a scholar and philosopher. His chief works are the "Philosophy of the Human Mind" and "Outlines of Moral Philosophy." Among Scottish artists who rose to eminence during this period are _Allan Ramsay_, the son of the poet, _Runciman_, _Raeburn_ and _Sir David Wilkie_, born in Fifeshire in 1785. He chiefly excelled in painting scenes from rural life, and was limner to the King for Scotland. Of poets who wrote in the English of the south, Scotland can lay claim to _James Thomson_, the author of "The Seasons," "The Castle of Indolence," and some tragedies; to _Beattie_, the author of "The Minstrel;" and to _Thomas Campbell_, born at Glasgow in 1777. His imaginative poem, "The Pleasures of Hope," laid the foundation of his fame.