Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/159

 9-S. IV. SEPT. 23/99.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 243 dialect of Devonshire differs from that oi Lincolnshire or "carinie aul' Cummerlan'. The dialect of Cumberland, I may say in passing, although scarcely a twin-brother, is, I think, at all events a first cousin of Low- land Scotch. What do your Scottish readers say anent this question of the difference, ii any, between the dialects of different localities in the southern parts of Scotland 1 I have spoken of Scotch as a "dialect." This is perhaps hardly just, as I think that Lowland Scotch, if less than a language, is something more than a dialect. For instance, can Burns's 'Halloween' and 'The Auld Farmer's New-Year Morning Salutation to his Auld Mare Maggie' be said to be written in dialect? Are they not in something which may be called almost, if not actually, a distinct language ? As for ' Maggy Maclane,' by James Mayne (ob. 1842), I should think that this must be a poser to many Scottish people, let alone Southrons ! (In 'The Songs of Scotland Chronologically Arranged,' Paisley, 1893, p. 461.) See also 'The Humble Beggar,' in the same collection, p. 156. The following seems to mo nearly conclusive that Lowland Scotch is really a language, and not a mere dialect. In the ninth chapter of 'The Antiquary' Miss Griselda Oldbuck, the Antiquary s sister, a lady both by birth and position, tells Lovel the story of the apparition of her ancestor, Aldobrand Oldenbuck, and Rab Tull, the town clerk-in Scotch nearly as broad as that used by Edie Ochiltree and Jenny Rintherout. See also the same good lady's lamentations to Mr. Blattergowl upon her brother's unexpectedly bringing the " Yorl" home to dinner, at the beginning of the thirty-fifth chapter. Scott, accordingly, thought it quite natural that a Scottish lady in the last decade of the eighteenth century should talk broad Scotch. But would a writer of repute represent a Devonshire lady in Miss Oldbuck's position, in 1794, talking the language of the 'Exmoor Scolding,' or a Cumberland lady of the same period employing as her " oan mak' p' toke" the language of ' The Worton Wedding ' or of Dr. A. C. Gibson's very amusing story ' Joe and the Geologist' t Would not such an idea be preposterous 1 King James's broad Scotch in 'The Fortunes of Nigel' is another powerful argument in favour of the view that Lowland Scotch is a language rather than a dialect. My friend Mr. George G. Napier, in ' The Homes and Haunts of Sir Walter Scott,' 1897 (a beautiful book), says (p. 11) that Sir Walter's good old mother's special injunction to the artist who painted her portrait was " Mak' me bonnie, mak' me bonnie " (dear old lady that she was !). Yet Scott's mother was a lady in every sense of the word. Her father was Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, and her husband was a Writer to the Signet. I do not wish to maintain that Lowland Scotch is a distinct language in the sense that Welsh and Gaelic— with neither of which I am acquainted—are distinct languages ; but I contend that neither is it a dialect in the sense that the "lingo" of Devonshire or Somersetshire is a dialect. I think this is a very interesting question, and I hope that some of your Scottish or other contributors will give us their views on the subject. May I appeal specially to DR. R. M. SPENCE and MR. THOMAS BAYNE ? JONATHAN BOUCHIER. Ropley, Hampshire. HORACE WALPOLE AND HIS EDITORS. (Continued from p. 165.) LETTER 11 (to George Montagu), without date of month or year (Cunningham's edition, vol. i. p. 15), is placed between a letter or 1737 and one of 1739. But it appears from the following considerations to be misplaced. (1) This letter is written from the "Chris- topher Inn," Eton. Describing his feelings on revisiting Eton, Walpole says :— " I should be out of all bomuh if I was to tell you half I feel But do come and feel with me, when you will—to-morrow." It is apparent from these words that Montagu can have been at no great distance from Eton when this letter was written. Montagu left England on a continental tour in 1737. This is evident from the fact that the letter to him dated 20 March, 1737 (vol. i. p. 14), which in Cunningham's edition imme- diately precedes the letter under considera- tion, was addressed to Montagu in Paris (see Cunningham's note, vol. ix. p. 499). He appears to have been still abroad in 1739, for in a letter to West, written from Rheiras on 20 July of that year (vol. i. pp. 24-5), Walpole says: " Mr. Selwyn and George Montagu design us a visit here." (2) In Horace Walpole's 'Short Notes of my Life' (Cunn., vol. i. p. Ixxi) he states 'under date 1746): " In August I took a fiouse within the precincts of the castle at Windsor." In a letter to Montagu, dated 5 August, 1746 (vol. ii. p. 45), he writes :— " I can prove to you that I am most desirous of passing my time with you. and therefore, if rou can find me out any clean, small house in Windsor ready furnished, I should be glad to
 * ake it for three or four months,"