Transactions. 69 



This is from a piece ascribed to K. James V. of Scotland, 

 and it is referred to here in order to illustrate the applica- 

 tion of the present tense of the verb to dead. 



Lough is used by Chaucer as the past tense of the verb 

 to laugh : 



" Our host lough aud swore." 



— The Miller's Prologue, line C. 



This is the leugh of the Scotch. 



I have thus run over in a curt and rapid way some of 

 the more striking peculiarities of the Scottish language, — 

 and if the view here suggested is con-ect we may trace how 

 it was that the language became separate and a peculiar 

 dialect ; — especially when we consider that the Scottish lan- 

 guage never entered on the noble course of improvement and 

 cultivation with which the English was favoured, but on the 

 contrary remained stationary and uncultivated, never having 

 been subjected to the rules of grammar or orthography, and 

 many times disfigured hj being made the vehicle of words at 

 variance with the j^roprieties and decencies of life. 



But when we pass on from the external foim of the language 

 to the sentiments and feelings it expresses we are no less sur- 

 prised to find here a character so different from that of Eng- 

 land. This character displays itself in various ways. It is 

 seen in the power of the Scotch to form diminutives, little 

 known to the English, and superior to the French, which im- 

 part so much pathos and tenderness to the language ; — in the 

 Scottish proverbs which are full of the thought and humour of 

 the common people ; — and in the Scottish viusic which is 

 everywhere appreciated. But into these we cannot at pre- 

 sent enter. 



