INTRODUCTION xxxv 



like Cockburn, who sat in the English Parliament after the 

 Union was a source of wonder and amusement to the Southron 

 members; but after the example set before us this must be 

 coloured with the hues of romance. Of course the oddities of 

 accent and intonation must be taken into account as a factor 

 in the amusement, but surely the indubitable provincialisms 

 among the English members themselves would be as marked 

 as any Doric. Though wordy enough, Cockburn is fond of 

 elliptical compression and of what the grammarian calls the 

 gerundial style. Two phrases from the same letter offer 

 typical illustrations of the gerund subject: 'Their not doing 

 this cleverly will lose him much of the advantage of what 

 he has learned ... to push it heartily in every part is want- 

 ing to bring it to bear.** Here is a striking case of com- 

 pression : ' You have now had a trial of [z^;^^^] ' the Garden 

 produces can best be disposed of."* If we compare Cockburn's 

 language with that of Defoe in the letters he wrote about the 

 same period to Harley from Scotland, it will be found to be 

 quite as clear, natural, and idiomatic. 



Cockburn's Work and Place 



These Letters suggest much that might be said about 

 Cockburn''s contemporaries who were busy at work on lines 

 such as he, and with very little effect beyond endangering 

 their own fortunes, as befell him ; much too, in themselves, 

 they tell about modes of living and of making a living that 

 what we call modern progress has removed far into the for- 

 gotten past. They illustrate, with a fulness unknown before, 

 the picture of rural life which is presented in such publications 

 of the Society as the Court-Book of the Barony of Urie, the 

 Masterton Papers, and Baron Cleric's Memoirs. 



The Fanner'' s Magazine gives 1726 as the date of the laying 

 out of the village, but in the light of the Letters this is too 

 early. ' If I can get a draught from Mr. Gordon, you'l have 



