SCOTLAND. 



Statistics. 



<)-. the Cli- 

 mate of 



Wind from the North fl5 



all-cut 9 

 East i.j 



South-east 1 i- 

 South 'i 



nth. west I 

 West 



North-west 19 

 From Western semicircle 226* 

 Ki-tern 139 



In West Lothian in 18O8, the winds were as fol- 



From Westerly points 



i Kterly do. i ,< 



Dae North . . 10 



Due South . . 5 



From the Belmont tables, the winds blow on an are. 

 rage of five years, 



From the South-east nearly 8ft 



South-west . 137 



From the numbers in this Table, we obtain the fol- 

 lowing results for thirteen years : 



North and North-east 

 East and South-east 

 South and South-west 

 West and North-west 



15 days. 

 102 



76 

 172 



^ ^ 



365 



CHAP. X. ON THE LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, ARTS 

 AND SCIENCES, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, DRESS, 

 FOOD, ANTIQUITIES, &c. OP SCOTLAND. 



On the The inhabitants of Scotland speak three different 



Language, languages, the English, the Scotch, and the Gaelic. 



Literature, The English language, whose origin we have already 



Arts and nol j cet j j n our article ENGLAND,* is spoken by all well 



Sciences,^ et j ucate j persons in eveiy part of the kingdom. It is 



'"'' used in all written deeds, and in all works in prose. 



The Scotch language, which is used by all the lower 



class in the lowlands, and even by many old persons 



of the higher ranks, is still employed in our national 



poetry. The Gaelic language is spoken in every part 



of the Highlands ; but almost all the Highlanders are 



acquainted with English, which is taught in all their 



schools. 



Scotch lan- j ne Scotch language, or that which is spoken in the 

 IU :- C - lowlands of Scotland, has generally been regarded as a 

 corrupt dialect of the English, or of the Anglo-Saxon ; 

 and those who have maintained this opinion, have not 

 scrupled to fix upon some era at which it was import- 

 ed from the south. Our eminent antiquarian, Dr. 

 Jamieson.t however, who at first entertained this opi- 

 nion, was led to investigate the subject with much at- 

 tention, and the result of this investigation was, that 

 the language of the lowlands of Scotland is as much a 

 separate language as the English, and that its basis, 

 like that of the English, is Teutonic, with a strong 

 mixture of Gaelic and French. In order to establish 

 this opinion, Dr. Jamieson contends that the Picts were 

 a Teutonic race, who invaded Scotland about the same 

 time that England was overrun by the Anglo-Saxons. 

 They conquered and colonized, he conceives, the whole 

 of the low country ; while the Gaelic population, like the 



Welsh, sought for refuge amid the fastnesses of their 

 mountains. Besides the evidence in favour of this opi- 

 nion, drawn directly from history, Dr. Jamieton con- 

 siders it as no inconsiderable proof, that the northern 

 parts of Scotland were immediately peopled from the 

 north of Europe by a Gothic race, that otherwise no 

 satisfactory account can be given of the introduction of 

 the Vulgar language. And he corroborates thaw views 

 by facts connected with the history of the Orkney 

 inlands, and by arguments deduced from the architec- 

 ture and customs of Scotland. 



Considering the Scotch language, therefore, as sepa- 

 rate from all others, it merits a degree of attention, to 

 which, as a corrupt dialect of the EnglUh.it could never 

 have been entitle* I ; and we have no doubt that our 

 readers will be gratifipri with the following ingenious 

 observations upon it, which were published anony- 

 mously by one of the principal contributors to tins 

 work. 



" Perhaps the chief causes which hare tended to 

 sink the estimation of the Scottish tongue, may be 

 sought in the operation of that extensive principle. 

 the association of ideas. The Scottish dialect is not 

 now the language of the noble, the opulent, and t v <. 

 fashionable. It is no longer the style in which the 

 transactions of public and of private business are con. 

 ducted. It is but seldom and partially employed in 

 conversation by the more enlightened and accomplish- 

 ed. It is heard chiefly from the mouths of the low. 

 the illiterate, an 1 the unpolished. It is unfortunately 

 associated, therefore, with every thing relating to them ; 

 and indeed is too often contaminated and debased by 

 their brutality, ignorance, and vice. In a different ar- 

 rangement of things, however, very different ideas 

 would, by therame principle, have been attached to it. 

 Whin spoken by our independent and aspiring chief- 

 tains ; when written by our men of genius and Icarn- 

 ing ; and when pronounced by our beauteous queens 

 and their attendant fair, its dignity was no doubt ac- 

 knowledged, its vigour experienced, and its sweetne 

 admired. 



\\ ith this general principle of association other acci- 

 dental circumstances have concurred ; and, by then 

 united agency, not only has the estimation of the Scot- 

 tish dialect been diminished, but its own intrinsic worth 



Volume IX. r . 35. 



f See the dissertation on the origin of ihe Scottish language, prefixed to Dr. 

 guage. 



Jamieaon'i Etymological /McfMMry of IM SMtHM 



