66

them that dwelt in towns, began to decay as intercourse with England became easier and more frequent, and when Scottish authors began to write for an English audience. Thus Principal Robertson (1721-1793), the historian, took pains to rid his language of Scotticisms, and, while it is too much to say, as Professor Minto said, that his style contains no Scotch idioms and no grammatical inaccuracies," he did succeed to a remarkable degree in ceasing to write like a Scot, without, however, learning to write like an Englishman, for his English, while on the whole correct, is not idiomatic. "He had no opportunities of hearing English as it was spoken, and learned it almost as a foreign language from books." David Hume (1711-1776) exercised the same Especially was he anxious," says Minto, to weed his diction of Scotticisms, inviting criticism and correction with a genuine desire to profit thereby." But all this care could not conceal, in their case or in other cases, that English was not their native tongue. "Are there not," asks Macaulay, "in the Dissertation on India, the last of Mr. Robertson's works, Scotticisms at which a London apprentice would laugh? " And Hugh, fourth Earl of Marchmont (1708-1794), was taken for an American by a London shopkeeper, "because, sir, you speak neither English nor Scotch, but something different from both, which, I conclude, is the language of America."

care.

66

Improved means of communication between different parts of the island and between town and country, still more universal compulsory education, have tended to check the use of the vernacular, and, although even in our towns there are many incomers that hold fast by it, there are others for whom the pressure of the environment is too strong. I recall the case of a farm servant who came to Aberdeen, and by and by found himself proprietor of a restaurant, where he felt he must part company with the Doric. His struggles were amusing at

the stage where he would shout down the service lift, "Send up twa beefsteaks not too sair overdeen." But those that live in towns must not fall into the error of assuming that the vernacular is near extinction. Even in the towns its accents are preserved, while in the country districts it is freely used. When the Scottish Branch of the English Association was formed, I urged at the meeting in Glasgow University, where the first steps were taken, that part of its work should be to collect Scots words and phrases still in use and not previously listed, with a view to preserving them before the influences referred to above should have put them beyond recovery. The result is one of the things I look back upon with most satisfaction. In December, 1901, a committee of four, of which I was one, was appointed "to arrange for the collection of materials in the Scottish dialect," the convener being Mr. W. Grant, Aberdeen, whose unwearied, skilful, and patriotic efforts to realise the purpose of the committee are beyond praise. There lie before me four pamphlets, containing between two and three thousand Scots words and phrases in living use and not hitherto listed. And, further, what is equally important, steps have been taken to secure exact phonetic and gramophone records of the pronunciation. If I add that Dr. Craigie is superintending the compilation of a Scots dictionary that shall deal with the language down to a date in the eighteenth century, and that the work of the committee just referred to is likely to issue in a dictionary that shall be a modern "Jamieson," my fellow-Scots may feel assured that the language they cherish so fondly is not being neglected or in danger of early death. Apart from sentimental considerations, familiarity with Scots has a scientific value. As the Rev. James Meikle, Alyth, has just pointed out in his excellent Places and Place-names Round Alyth, the investigation of place-names is best conducted by a native, who, other qualifications being

assumed, has the advantage of familiarity with local pronunciation, which is often traditional, and something of the same holds good with regard to general etymology. It must strike every observer that while, to some extent, the speech of Scotland is being approximated to that of England, that of England, in its written form, is borrowing something from its northern relative. From time to time one notes in it Scottish words and forms of language that are not altogether explained by the presence of Scots in England; there is now a more general recognition of the pithiness of expressiveness of dialectal forms.

The spread of education, involving what is a comparatively recent thing in England, the scientific study of English, has raised dialect out of the class of things to be condemned as "vulgar." When Sir James Murray, a Scot (shades of Dr. Johnson!), undertook in 1879 the editing of the New English Dictionary, he set his hand to a work that had as a corollary the preservation of what lay beyond the frontiers of standard English. For the investigation of this speedily revealed the wealth of expressive language it could not be held to include. The greatness of this was revealed some sixteen to twentyfive years later, when Dr. Joseph Wright published his English Dialect Dictionary (1896-1905) and English Dialect Grammar (1905). The language of Scotland also came into its own, and the older Scottish writers were more generally studied, so that "a blaud of Davie Lindsay "became as familiar to many a schoolboy as it was to Dougal MacCallum. Such books as Mr. Gregory Smith's Specimens of Middle Scots, Miss Westergaard's Studies in Prefixes and Suffixes in Middle Scottish, and Mr. Robb's A Book of Scots indicate a new attitude towards the vernacular. It has now a recognised place in the school curriculum; both the language and the literature receive attention. A teacher does not hesitate to use it in order to make his meaning clearer, even if

he does not employ it as a medium of instruction, as my old mathematical tutor, Dr. David Rennet ("Davie " of honoured and beloved memory), at times did. Nothing could excel his introduction to an exposition of how light is reflected. "Noo, jist imagin' a ray o' licht to The attitude come stottin' on till a troch o' traicle." to-day towards the vernacular is strikingly different from that of some of Burns's contemporaries. Dr. Moore, for some time a well-known citizen of Glasgow, and himself an author of repute, in a letter to Burns, praises the felicity of his songs, and then proceeds to advise him to write in English and to eschew a provincial dialect, lest he should limit the number of his readers. Dr. Moore seems to have been of the mind of Mr. Casson, "They're cur'ous talkers i' this country sir; the gentry's hard work to hunderstand 'em." More excusably, Cowper complains of Burns's language, candle is bright, but shut up in a dark lantern," and wishes our poet would "content himself with writing pure English, in which he appears perfectly qualified to excel." The facts stated above with regard to the attention paid to the study and the preservation of the vernacular are gratifying; not less so is the extent to In my own which it is used both in prose and in verse. county, Aberdeenshire, there is a remarkable production of plays in the Buchan dialect, and these are being acted to enthusiastic audiences. More widely known are the poems of Dr. Charles Murray, Mrs. Violet Jacob, Miss Mary Symon, Dr. Neil Munro, and others.

"His

The Burns Clubs have done and are doing much to keep the vernacular alive, especially in centres where it is exposed to adverse influences. Most of them, by means of lectures and song recitals, maintain interest in the national poets and lyrists, and, from experience, I can vouch for a widely diffused reading of our poetry from the time of Burns and for an extensive acquaintance with our songs. There is room, however, for some

enterprise in the way of exciting interest in the prose writers that have handled the vernacular in masterly fashion; lovers of it will not regret spending hours over the tales of Galt, Miss Ferrier, Hogg, " Delta," George Macdonald, Dr. Alexander, to mention only those that belong to an older time; the moderns, such as Crockett, Barrie, “Hugh Foulis," and Stevenson, are less likely to be neglected. The schools can do a good deal to foster such reading, but the extent to which they will go will be affected by the interest taken by teachers and Education Authorities in promoting the study of the vernacular, and the Burns Federation might help in this direction by approaching the Scottish Education Department with a view to enlisting its sympathy in favour of fostering the study of Scottish history and literature at the training centres, and by pressing on Education Authorities the desirability of securing attention to these subjects in the schools. As a matter of fact, Burns Clubs, by means of competitive exhibitions in facility in the vernacular among pupils, have done fine service to the cause. It is hardly necessary to say that it is particularly desirable to promote acquaintance with the vernacular in schools where the children have limited opportunities of hearing it spoken elsewhere. Additional proof of the extent to which "braid Scots" is still familiar to the lips of many is found in Mrs. Beaton's admirable volume, At the Back of Benachie, and in the recent issues of compositions in it, both prose and verse, under the auspices of the Vernacular Circle of the London Burns Club. Reviewing the whole situation, one finds the vernacular still strong and healthy, and capable of reacting vigorously to well-directed efforts to foster it; a speech so virile and expressive has in it the seeds of a long life.

A. M. WILLIAMS,

Hon. Vice-President, Sir Walter Scott Club.