262
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. i. APRIL 2, MM.
defines "chield" simply as "child," who con-
siders it an adequate account of "gowans"
to call them "wild flowers," and who explains
that " rigwoodie " is " the rope or chain
traces " ! A few examples may be chosen to
show that this surprising promise is not
belied. In ' The Twa Dogs,' for example, the
first lyric in the selection, the poet says of
Csesar, the rich man's dog, " The fient a
pride nae pride had he." "Fient" is not
included in the glossary. Presently the two
dogs are said to have been " unco pack and
thick thegither." The only word like " unco "
of which a definition is given is " uncos," for
which "news" is entered as an equivalent,
and the expressive epithet " pack " is ignored.
Other words and phrases of the poem that
receive no explanation are " haith," "gaun,'
"run deils," " baran a quarry," "a stinkan
brock," " ran tan kirns." Where he has fairly
struck in, however, and allowed himself
freedom of action, the glossarist has certainly
achieved distinction. Two examples will
suffice. Luath, the ploughman's collie, in the
course of his description of workmen's
comforts, refers to " their grushie weans an'
faithfu' wives." " Grushie," which means
vigorously healthy,, is here amazingly inter-
preted as "a protruding muzzle," as if,
forsooth, the weans were veritable urchins of
the hedgerows ! Our second illustration of
astonishing ingenuity in definition introduces
the sovereign twilight passage with which
the poem closes. Two notable features of a
summer evening in a rural district are thus
happily portrayed :
The bum-clock hummed wi' lazy drone, The kye stood rowtin' i' the loan.
Here we have Macbeth's "shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums/' and the cows returning up the loan, or farm road, from the pastures, and bellowing aimlessly as they loiter in front of the deliberate herdsman. It is a suggestive delineation, characteristic of the witching hour "'tween the gloaming and the mirk " which inspired Collins to brilliant expression, and pleasantly stimu- lated the romantic chivalry of the Ettrick Shepherd. Our glossarist spoils this attrac- tive picture for his disciples, informing them as he does, with categorical precision, that the loan is "a milking-shed." He would have shown equal familiarity with the subject had he given the meaning as a hen-roost or a counting-house, and even then his interpre- tative daring would not have been much more surprising than that which his actual definition reveals.
Some examples may be added in reference to the words used in the 'Auld Farmer's
New Year Morning Salutation to his Auld
Mare, Maggie.' The writer of the introduction
to the volume absurdly entitles this poem the
' Farmer's Good Year to his Auld Mare,' bub
despite this suspicious lack of precision he
ventures to assert that the humorous pity
and kindness of the piece are "inimitable
and unimitated." With this authoritative
pronouncement to stimulate him, the English
reader will naturally give special attention
to this lyric, and diligently utilize the glos-
sary in grappling with its frequent difficulties.
For various reasons the opening stanza is cer-
tain to give him trouble ; in particular, its con-
cluding statement to the effect that the mare
could once go "like ony staggie out owre the
lay " will inevitably prompt deliberate and
careful inquiry. " Staggie" is not included in
the glossary, and as "lay" is explained to be
" part of a weaver's loom," the confiding and
ingenuous mind will readily conceive great
things of the old mare's youth. Further room
for expansive surprise is presently given in
reference to the fine qualities of the mare at
brooses, that is, at the competitive gallops
incidental to marriage processions. As we
are given to understand in the glossary that
"broose" is a variant of broth, the beginner
in Burns will not be to blame if he should
conclude that in her prime this remark-
able animal must have performed some
gastronomical feat that would have put to
shame the fastidious stork of the fable. As
a racer the steed is said to have been in
her youth "a jinker noble" a description
that might surely appeal to a cultured
reader without the help of an interpreter.
"Jinker," however, is carefully explained
as meaning " sprightly," the reader being
again left to his own imagination over
the undoubted resemblance that exists (especially on the turf) between a sprightly noble
and a galloping mare. Then in her early days
the old favourite " was a noble Fittie-lan',"
that is, when yoked to the plough she footed
the untilled land worked "in the hand," as
the ploughman says while her yoke-fellow
walked in the furrow. " Fittie-lan'/' according
to our glossarist, is " the near wheeler of a
team," a descriptive gloss that prompts
thoughts of De Quincey's "glory of motion'*
rather than the laborious process that slowly
transfigures the stubborn glebe. Again, the
sturdy pair used to pull the plough through
difficult soil "till sprittie knowes wad rair't
and risket " ; that is, the sprits or coarse rushes
on the knolls would crack with a rasping
sound as they were torn up by the plough-
share. On "rair't" and "risket" the glos-
sarist is intelligible, but he is characteristically
