NOTES

ΤΟ

DISSERTATION II.

NOTE (a) p. 20. Mr Horne Tooke (Diversions of Purley, 8vo. 242.) fays: "And here it may be proper to obferve, that Gawin Douglas' language, though written about a century after, muft yet be efteemed more ancient than Chaucer's; even at this day, the present English fpeech in Scotland is, in many respects, more ancient than that spoken in England fo far back as the reign of Queen Elizabeth." So Mr Cafaubon (De vet. Ling. Ang.) fays of his time; "Scotica lingua Anglica hodierna purior :" where, by purior, he means nearer to the AngloSaxon. So G. Hickes, in his Anglo-Saxon Grammar, c. 3. fays, "Scoti in multis Saxonizantes."

There are few persons in the prefent age to whom philofophy is fo much indebted as to H. Tooke, who has fwept away a vast mass of traíh, and established firm foundations on which to build the theory of language.

Quæ toties animos veterum torfere Sophorum,
Quæque fcholas fruftra rauco certamine vexant,
Obvia confpicimus,-Halley.

What tortur'd oft the fophifts though acute,

What wearied oft the schools with hoarfe difpute,

We fee!

What a pity that, born for the univerfe, he has narrowed his mind; and that, instead of devoting the powers of his vigorous understanding exclusively to what will be eternally useful, he has distracted it in the pursuit of objects and affairs,

Quæ dum geruntur,

Percellunt animos, cum praeteriere nihil funt.

、

Polignat.

Which, while they last, ensnare the dazzled mind,
But fleeting pass, nor leave a wreck behind.

For the manner in which the Saxon language was introduced into Scot land, confult Ritfon's Historical Essay on Scotish Song, and the authors mentioned by him. He obferves, that Malcolm III. (Canmore, who afcended the throne in 1056) refided a confiderable time in England, dur ing the ufurpation of Macbeth: that he married an English princefs, and probably preferred the polished manners of that country to those of his own that the piety of his confort introduced a great number of priests that Malcolm, in an irruption into England, brought home a vast number of captives: and that the Norman conquest in 1080, forced a number of Saxons to feek an afylum in Scotland: Befides the Saxon was a cultivated and written language, which the Celtic was

not.

Note (b) p. 21.-T. Warton, to whofe remarks on Spenfer 1 am indebted for fome of these paffages, gives us a still more pathetic complaint of the famous antiquary Thomas Hearne, on account of our adoption of the Roman character. "As it is a reproach to us (fays Thomas) that the Saxon language fhould be fo forgot, as to have but few (comparatively speaking) that are able to read it, so it is a greater

reproach that the black letter, which was the character fo much in use in our grandfathers' days, should be now as it were disused and rejected."-Talking of the Bible, Thomas fays, "But though I have taken fo much pleasure in perufing the English Bible of the year 1541, yet 'tis nothing equal to that I should take in turning over that of the year 1539." Such is the value of two years only in the eyes of an antiquary, that even the facred book itself becomes thereby more venerable.

Hearne's character resembles one of Johannes Subfufcus, 'which I have somewhere feen whimsically drawn. 'Johannes Subfufcus, antiquarius ille venerabilis, vetuftatis avidus, novitate averfus, coelum ipfum faftidiens quod Nova dicitur Hierofolyma, et nullum non locum refpuens que neque tinea neque aerugo corrumpit.-John Brownish, that venerable antiquarian; lover of antiquity; hater of novelty; defpifer of heaven itself, because it is called the New Jerufalem; and abhorring every place but thofe which are corrupted by moths and rust.”

Note (c) p. 22.-We need only open the works of the elder poets to obferve a number of words now antiquated in England but used in Scotland. I fhall instance a few.

Eyne, (eyes) is common in Shakespeare, Spenfer, Chaucer.

In Comus, Thyrfis, talking of the herb haemony, says, it is
Unknown, and light efteem'd; and the dull fwain

Treads on it daily with his clouted soon.

And Shakespeare, in Cymbeline, act 4. sc. 2.

I thought he flept, and put

My clouted brogues from off my feet, whose rudeness
Answered my steps too loud.

Spenser says of the horse Brigadore, that he

Louted low on knee. 1

Bitten by a wood-dog's venom'd tooth.

Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, a&t 2.

So alfo Shakespeare, Chaucer, &c. from weden, to be furious.

In fine, not to multiply examples without number, Milton represents a report of the creation of man as rife in heaven before the fall; and Sir Walter Raleigh fays that the following obfervation of the Earl of Effex, concerning Elifabeth, coft him his head: "That the grows old and cankered, and that her mind was become as crooked as her carcase."

Note (d) p. 23.-What Mr Geddes here fays of a, is confirmed by Dr Burney in his Hiftory of Mufic, vol. 4. p. 7. "The vowel a, acccording to our method of founding it, in the words all, call, ball, &c. affords the pureft and most open paffage to the voice through the mouth, and long divisions and vocal effusions fhould be appropriated as much as poffible to this vowel, which is still more convenient to the finger when combined with no other letter which alters the form of the organ. O allows a free paffage to found, yet, as it feparates the lips and teeth less than the letter a, it is in lefs favour with fingers." Again, "It has been found that the vowel a is the best for divisions, and all the other vowels have been long in disuse for such

purposes, by the heft Italian compofers for the Stage."---Innumerable are the words which in the Scotith end in a, which in English end in a confonant; as ca', fa', fma', for call, fall, fmall: And by confulting the general rules at the end of the Foulis' edition of the Gentle Shepherd, it will appear that, in almost every inftance, the Scots have the advantage of the English in point of euphony. "The pronunciation of Scots (fays Allan Ramfay) is liquid and fonorous, and much fuller than the English---which, being added to all our own words of eminent fignificancy, makes our tongue by far the compleatest; for inftance, I can fay, an empty houfe, a toom barrel, a bofs head, and a bolloru beart. Many fuch examples might be given, but let this one fuffice."

Note (e) p. 25.—Ramfay's Works were well received in England. There was an edition at London for the bookfellers in 1731, and one at Dublin in 1733. A compliment paid him by Hogarth will be afterwards mentioned. The late W. Tytler, Efq; of Woodhouselce, recollected Gay, in Ramfay's shop, defiring that writer" to explain to him many of the Scotifh expreffions of the Gentle Shepherd, which Gay faid he would communicate to Pope, who was a great admirer of that paftoral." We are told alfo, that Arbuthnot performed for Pope the office of interpreter of this drama.

The works of Burns have been fo univerfally read, that I believe the Scotish dialect is now, among readers of poetry, pretty familiar in England. The clofer connection which, for many years, has fubfifted between the north and fouth of the island, the eminence of many Scotfimen in literature, as well as the rife of many in the civil and military department, have given us confideration. Our country has also been made known and interesting by Pennant and other tourists. It is faid that his prefent Majefty takes pleasure in the Scotifh dialect. One day that the Countess of Elgin was at Court, his Majefty came up and faid, "My lady, a've gotten a letter frae your fon the day, an' he's brawly."

Note (f) p. 25.---Since I wrote this I have read the Sad Shepherd of Ben Jonfon, in which Bishop Hurd fays he has written above himself,