80 



0» Sceteh A^tni and VronttncialUn'. 



f Aug. I, 



'to the Editor tfthe Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



HAVING lately, after twenty years 

 abfence, paid a vifit to the place of 

 my nativity, Scotland, I was alike fur- 

 prifed and hurt at the language fpoken. 

 Though accuftomed to affociate with my 

 countrymen here, yet a great proportion 

 of them have acquired at leaft an iinitatmt 

 of the Englifh language ; but at Edin- 

 burgh, Caledonia's capital, whofe inha- 

 bitants pride themfelves on their elegance 

 and learning, the broadeft Scottifti accent 

 is every wheie to be heard, and is not con- 

 fined to the lower prople, but pervades all 

 ranks, the highert not excepted ; and not 

 infrequently there is evinced an affeftaiion 

 of fpeaking what they call pure Scotch, 

 bidding perfeft defiance to a union vj\\\\ 

 England, in language at leaft. In tiie 

 courts of juftice, where are to be found 

 many of the brightelt literary charafters, 

 ftill the provincial accent prevails, even 

 among thofe gentlemen of the bar or bench 

 who (peak, in public correflly as to the 

 vvords and grammar. But go among the 

 circles of advocates lounging in the outer- 

 houfe, and you will hear in their familiar 

 difcourl'e the Scotch language introduced 

 on all occafions. 1 muft acknowledge that 

 this f^-ecies of vylgarifm is now ieldom in- 

 troduced in their public fpeeches, but be- 

 fore I firft left the country, it was extreme- 

 ly common among the council as well as 

 judges. Lord Kaims, Lord Auphinleck, 

 the late Lord Juftice Clerk Macqugen, and 

 many others I could name, eminent for 

 their legal and literary acquirements, car- 

 ried this difgufting habit to the extreme. 



When thtfe gfntienien get themfelves 

 tranfpoi ted to the Britifti fenate, and i'eated 

 in St. Sieplien's Chapel, however learned 

 and appropriate may be their haranguts, 

 the provinciality of their accent disfiguies 

 their language, and greatly offends the 

 £nglini ear. Lord Melville, long as he 

 has fat in the Ht-ufe of Commons, and 

 much as he has diftinguifhed himftlt in 

 fpeaking, has never been able to diveft 

 himfelt of this impediment. Alrnoft the 

 only inttance I know of a ptrfon bred in 

 Scotland getting entirely rid of his natvve 

 accent, was the late Earl of Roislyn, who 

 on his firrt coming to London to prepare 

 himfelf for the Englifh bar, wifely con- 

 fidered this point of (b great importance, 

 that he fechided himfelf entirely from the 

 fociety of his Ciuntrymcn ; whereas in 

 rnofl of the Scots, refuling in this metropo- 

 lis, their c nftant and alnicft exclufive af. 

 fociarion together in their convivial hours, 

 uccafion^ an iriveteraie continuation of 



their language, as diflioguiftiable a« that 

 of the Jews, and proceeding from the 

 famecaule. 



A reformation in-thii refpefl were much 

 to be wiflied. Among the lower clals, 

 the people in Scotland, as in every other 

 diftrift of the kingdom, muft be expefled 

 to fpeak a vulgar and local dialeiSl ; but: 

 among thofe of a better education, there 

 might furely be fome improvement. At 

 prefent not only is the child educated at 

 home amidlt the language in its auncient 

 purity, but at fchool his malter, inffead 

 of teaching him to read and pronoimce 

 the Englifli tongue, inftrudls him in a fort 

 of jargon, of which the wr-rds arccoireff, 

 but the pionunciatlon falfc. In ftiort, it 

 is a language taught by 9. fcreigner, who 

 is himfelf under the fame dilabilities in'.o 

 which he leads his pupils. 



The moll obvious means of correfling 

 this deleft, vi-ould be to employ only Eng- 

 lidimen as teachers of the Englifli language. 

 I am fenfible that Englifhmen, othcrwife 

 properly qualified, are not to be had To 

 eadly, and certainly not at io moderate 

 rates as Scotchmen : but furely, in the 

 principal fchools at Edinburgh, and other 

 large towns, this difficulty might begot 

 over ; and in families that can afford to 

 keep private tutors for tlieir children, it 

 would be a mod material improvement to 

 employ Englifh gentkipen. t^qr is this 

 all : the youth flioiild the whole time tl^ey 

 are ftudying foreign languages, and other 

 branches of knowledge, read daily a con- 

 fiderable portion of Englifh aloud to ai; 

 able mailer, and every difconragement bp 

 given to their fpeaking Scotch in commor^ 

 and among each other. At prefent, when 

 a boy goes to the High School to learn 

 Latin, he is in a great meafure taught to 

 defpife the Englilh, and were he to atr 

 tempt to fpeak it with propriety would be 

 hi)ghed at by the relf, A boy who may 

 have received part of his education in Eng- 

 land, and retuins to Edinburgh to a pub. 

 lie fchool, is as much ridiculed by his 

 companions as the molt awkjiaid young 

 Sawney would he anorig a number of 

 Englifh boys. I particularly remember, 

 when I was at the High School of Edin- 

 burgh, an ex.imple of this, in the perfon 

 of the prefent Earl of Laudeidale, and his 

 brother, G neral Maitlind, vvho aftc-r 

 ftudying fome- years in England, returned 

 to Edinburgh. Their kn^pfung, as it 

 was called, produced fuel) (itrifion, as to 

 induce them in a great ine.ifuie (o unlearn 

 the hiiguage they had been acquiring. 



I may, probably, on a future occafion, 

 addrefs you farther «n this lu'lcft, and 



Ihatl 



