JOURNAL OF d4~N LAUDER

1

different ways on the same page. There are, however, many
constant peculiarities, some of which may have a lingu\IIUc
interest, thus 1 laugh' rough' 4 enough 1 through are spelt
with a final t. The use of a final but silent t Mr. MtWkay
in his introduction to Pitscottie,l p. cxl, says is a distinct
mark of Scots of the middle period. 'Voyage," sponge,' and
large' are sometimes spelt without the finale. 'Knew," slcw,'
'blew' are spelt 'know,' 'slow,' 1-blow.' Inn' is spelt
innes." 'See' is alwa3~s spelt Il sy' or 1 sie,' and weigh,'
wy.' But these are only examples, taken at ntndom.
Une,' 'off,' too,' thee' are spelt on,' of,' to,' 1 the)'
a snare to the unwary reader. V and 'V" are frequently
interchanged.

Lauder's language is idiomatic, and he uses many Scottish
words which were not common in the written literary language
of his time. A few of these words are now rare and even
(lifficult to trace 2 1\lost of them are quite intelligible to
persons who have been accustomed to hear Lowland Scots
spoken, but for the sake of other readers 1 hav e been con-
vinced that occasionally interpretation is not suherftuous.
The thanks of the Society and my own are due to the
owners of the ~tss. 1 nm grateful to Sir T. N. Dick Lauder
and Sir William Fraser's Trustees (Sir James Balfour l~aul,
Lyon King of Arms, and the tate l\lr, .James Cmik, 'V.S,),

r Nistorie and Chronirlcs of Srollarrd, hy Robert Linciesay of Pitscottie
(Scottish Text Socicty, 1899).

2 One of them is 1 dron,' p. 146. With rcference to the words 7 arbres,' in
the description of the Mail at Tours, p. 20, M r. A. Lang has suggested to me
that arbres might hc a term in the jcr~ le .ilail. Tir. H. S. C. Evcrard has
kindly sent me the following quotations from Joseph L-tuthier's book on the
gamc (lst cd., 1717): 1 C'est quand dcux ou plusicurs jouent à qui pousscra
plus loin, et quand l'un est plus fort quc l'autre, le plus faible demandc avantage,
soit par distance d'arhres, suit par distance de 1>a~ IOn finit la Partie en
touchant un arbre ou unc pierrc marquée qui sert de tfut.' If ccrtain trees werc
marked as goals, that woulcl be a IIcttcr exhlanation than the one given in the
note,