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in English. By way of compromise, James encouraged them to write in Latin-a language in which he pretended to be highly proficient. This is a claim which can hardly be disputed when we remember the fact that George Buchanan, the most renowned Latinist of the day, was his tutor. The effect of James's influence on literature, though somewhat indirect, was soon manifest, and writers reverted to the use of Latin in preference to the vernacular, which was a prevalent custom in the preceding century much lamented by those early writers who did so much for the advancement of national literature. As an author, James became known at an early age, his first work, entitled "The Divine Art of Poesie," being published in 1584, when he was nineteen years of age. At twenty-five he wrote “Poetical Exercises at Vacant Hours,” which, though not of the first order, is far from commonplace. Indeed, it might be said of his poetical writings generally, that if they do not exhibit great merit they are more free from censure or questionable taste than any of his prose writings. For instance, if we take his "Demonologie," which was published in 1597, it is evident that it was thrust upon his subjects with an ostentation and show of learning which are usually absent in writings of real merit; but a still more formidable objection might be made against it. In his early life he assumed a very pronounced attitude towards witchcraft, which was an unreasonable antagonism, to say the least of it. His treatise was obviously written with the view of justifying the severity he had exercised against those who were accused of it. Nor can much be said in defence of the wisdom of the statesmen with whom he was surrounded, since he was able to induce them to pass a law against witchcraft as a heinous crime which ought to be punished by death of the most cruel kind. Moreover, the mere fact that this law disgraced the English Statute Book for more than a century does not reflect much credit on James's royal successors or their political administrators. The King's intolerance and despotism, however, were not exclusively confined to witchcraft, for after he ascended the English throne he caused Bartholomew Legate and Edward Wightman, two of his subjects, to be burned for heresy, the one at Smithfield, the other at Lichfield, and for comparatively trifling offences. Legate held the doctrines of Manés, a Persian philosopher, who taught that there were two supreme principles in the universe-viz., Light and Dark

ness, the former being the source of all good, and the latter the author of all evil; while Wightman maintained that he was the prophet referred to in Deuteronomy xviii. With respect to King James's prose writings, there is no doubt but "Basilicon Doron" is his most important work, and, like "Demonologie," was written for purposes of the greatest political significance. It was addressed to his dearest son and natural successor, Prince Henry, who, however, did not live to carry its precepts into execution, but although this was the case it did not become a dead letter in the monarchical fortunes of the British nation. The specific object of the treatise was to show his son "his duty towards God as a Christian, his duty in his office as a king, and how to behave himself in indifferent things." The work was written with an apparent sincerity and pedantic affectation, which too frequently carries conviction when a sounder philosophy fails, and the result was that it was not long before it was regarded as the supreme authority on the prerogatives of a king in relation to his subjects. "Basilicon. Doron" perhaps exercised a more powerful influence than any work that had yet been written in promoting the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, which was so dear to the heart of several of the Steuart line. The difficulty of finding a reasonable excuse for James writing such a book as "Basilicon Doron" is vastly increased when it is remembered that he was the pupil of George Buchanan, whose entire intellectual sympathies were opposed to such views. Indeed, Buchanan's learned political treatise, "De Jure Regni" was written specially for James's guidance, and was designed to show what a King of Scots should be in order to command the respect and obedience of his subjects. As far as King James VI. was concerned, however, the work failed in its object, and while he regarded Buchanan as a great and overmastering intellect with whom it would not have been safe to enter into controversy, it does not appear that he was much influenced in his political views by his distinguished master and tutor, especially in his later years.

WM. M'ILWRAITH.

THE RAUCLE TONGUE OF BURNS.

II.

WE

WE have been highly gratified by the number of letters, critical and otherwise, which reached us after the publication of the first article in last year's Chronicle, the contents of which, taken along with the diverse localities from which they were addressed, have convinced us that public interest in the subject is as engrossing as it is wide-spread. With regard to some of the suggestions submitted, we take this opportunity of explaining that it is only with the more obscure words and phrases that we profess to deal, and not with those which we have reason to know are still more or less in common use throughout the West Country. Most of the omissions pointed out are thus, we hope, satisfactorily accounted for. "Brooses," for instance, mentioned by one correspondent, we considered had been widely enough advertised already by Andrew Lang's refreshing gloss to the effect that it was "broth" the Auld Farmer had in his mind when complimenting Maggie on her pith and speed. There can, of course, be no broth without "broo," and barley is quite as essential for the real Scottish compound. Yet the Cockney must tread warily. "Broo" has no plural that we ever heard of, and "barley-broo❞ or "bree" is a bird of quite different feather. If he wants to know what "broo" really is, we cannot do better than advise him to puzzle out the meaning of the old Scots proverb, "Fry stanes wi' butter an' the broo will be guid." We have again and again come across the assertion (leaders being scarcer than followers) that the wedding-race, or "broose," was from the church to the bride's home. It is perhaps quite sufficient to say that it was not the Scottish custom to be married in church. We have conversed with at least a score of old men who had "ridden the broose" in their youth, and they all agreed in locating the course between the bride's home (where the ceremony almost invariably took place) and the house over which she was in future to preside as mistress. To be first

there was a post of honour conferring certain privileges for the day, which every "swankey" present did his best to secure.

"Then aff they a' set, galloping, galloping,

Legs and arms a-walloping, walloping,

Deil tak' the hindmost, quo' Duncan M'Alipin,
Laird o' Tullybenjo."

Another correspondent considers "rigwoodie" to be the ancient "ridgewoodie" which was passed over the back of the ox or horse to hold the "draught-woodies" in position, and was consequently semi-circular in shape. A "rigwoodie hag," in the light of this explanation, would therefore mean an old witch, wizened, and bent nearly double. A farmer obligingly gives an addendum to "stake," in the Second Epistle to Lapraik. An older arrangement than the post with the travelling ring, he says, was in the form of two stakes or posts, from four to five feet in height, driven into the ground at the head of the "buiss" far enough apart to accommodate the cow's neck, but too narrow to allow the withdrawal of the head and horns. When the neck was got into position, a rope or bar was drawn across the upper ends of the posts to prevent withdrawal in an upward direction. That the "stake" meant the ordinary method of securing the cows in the byre is clear from the following couplet in the Fête Champetre:

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To all and sundry who have favoured us with critical communications we can only say that the Poet himself is the final court of appeal; hence the best corrective to wrong interpretation is a study of the glossaries of the Kilmarnock and Edinburgh editions, for it is only when a word is not to be found therein that any difference of opinion is admissible. Our newspaper critic, who complained of our assertion that city populations were a negligible quantity" in the examination of such a subject, we beg to assure that it was city-bred men and women whom we meant. Only those who have an intimate knowledge of rural life and manners can appreciate to the full the language, references, and imagery of Burns; yet we know that many such are to be found in cities and towns whose youthful impressions are kept evergreen by refreshing draughts from the perennial fountain of Scottish poetry and song.

To the examples which we culled from the Kilmarnock

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Edition, perhaps one or two more might have been added. "Blellum,” which occurs in Tam O'Shanter, and also in the Epistles to M'Math and Creech, though perhaps then in common use, was a Burns importation into the literary vernacular. The adjectives wont to be prefixed to it by Kate differentiate between it and "skellum," which means a knave or designedly bad fellow. "Skelpie-limmer occurs only in Hallowe'en. The Poet himself gives, "a technical term in female scolding," as the translation. We have never heard the whole term used, though "limmer we have heard scores of times, and always in the sense indicated by the Poet, which appears to be akin to the title he conferred upon Jamie Richmond. From the context, colour is given to the opinion that "skelpie" is almost synonymous with "gilpie," a young giddy-headed girl. "Snick-drawing," which Burns gives as "trick-contriving," still survives in "sneck-drawer," which means a dishonest, crafty person. Shore," which occurs frequently in the text, we have never once heard used in Ayrshire in any of the senses indicated by the Poet. "To offer, to threaten," is his own gloss of the word, though it would appear there is room enough for several shades of meaning between

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"Lang, Patronage, wi' rod o' airn,

Has shor'd the Kirk's undoin',"

"He shor'd them Dainty Davie
O' boot that night."

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"Jirt," in the Second Epistle to Lapraik, we take to be the modern "chirt," to squeeze, or force through a small opening -a meaning which differs somewhat from the Poet's rendering, a jerk." We have heard "yert," however, used to convey the idea of jerking. Fleg," which occurs in the same poem, and also in the Election Ballads, he does not condescend upon. In the former instance it evidently means a kick or blow; but in the latter, if the idea of kicking is present at all, it is transmuted into the motion of the legs in mounting a horse. Bickering brattle," which occurs in The Mouse, does not appear in the Burns Glossary. "Brattle," however, is given as a short, hurried race, while bickering " will best be understood by referring to the root-word in Death and Doctor Hornbook

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"Leeward whyles, against my will,

I took a bicker."

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