In consequence of the long and intimate connexion which formerly subsisted betwixt the courts of France and Scotland, a considerable analogy between the lan guages was effected; and into that of the latter many of the terms and clegancies of the former have been introduced; examples of this are so numerous, that a selection would be difficult, and so manifest that it would be unnecessary.
The copiousness of the Scottish language in many respects is remarkable. But this consists not merely in an abundance of terms to express the same thing, but in the power which these terms possess, of placing the object in various points of light, and of remarking with precision a multitude of the minutest shades of difference. In consequence of this circumstance, with the power and permission of adopting, at pleasure, from the English, Scottish poets are furnished with a most extensive vocabulary, and enjoy very superior advantage for composing with ease, perspicuity, and richness of expression.
It contains a number of vocables peculiarly expres sive, and purely its own. Many of these are mono syllables, and yet they convey an extent and an energy of meaning, which most of the modern languages can but imperfectly collect even by a circumlocution.
Its power of terminations, especially in diminutives, and the expression of endearment, is far from being inconsiderable, and, in many instances, it appears to be little inferior to 'that of the Italian.
It possesses a considerable portion of that rustic simplicity, so much admired in the Doric dialect of the Greeks, and not a little also of the smoothness and harmony of the Ionic. Like the former it drops final consonants, Substitutes one for another, and con verts many of the vowels and dipthongs of English vowels into A and I; and, like the latter, it delights to throw out the consonants, to produce a concourse of vowels, to soften the sound, and to promote the flow .of those harsher terms which less easily combine in versification.
The Scottish language, in short, abounds in terms and phrases connected with domestic and social life, with rural scenery, sentiments, and occupations; and hence it is peculiarly fitted for pastoral poetry, the lighter odes, and the description of external nature. It surpasses in humorous representations, and is far from being unsuited to the plaintive and tender. The 'poems, and especially the songs of Burns, illustrate and confirm these observations. For the didactic and the sublimer kinds of poetry, it may be rather deficient in majesty and compass."
The Gaelic language, or that spoken in the High lands of Scotland, is a dialect of the Celtic, dialects of which are also spoken in Ireland, Wales, Bretagne, and the Spanish province of Biscay. Of all these the dialects of the Scots and the Irish arc the most pure. That which is spoken in the north of Scotland is much more pure, and more abundant in primitives than that which was written some centuries ago, among the most unmixed part of the Irish nation. " A Scotsman, says Macpherson,* tolerably conversant in his own language, understands an Irish composition, from that derivative analogy which it has to the Gaelic of North Britain. An Irishman, on the other hand, without the aid of study, can never understand a com position in the Gaelic tongue. This affords a proof, that the Scots-Gaelic is the most original, and conse quently the language of a more ancient and unmixed people."t It would be inconsistent with the nature of a work like this, to attempt even the briefest sketch of the literary history of Scotland.t We can afford room only for a few general remarks. There is scarcely a department in the wide field oflearning and research, in which the Scotch have not been highly distinguish ed. In mathematical and physical science the names of James and David Gregory, of Maclaurin, Simpson, Black, Hutton, Robison, Playfair, and Ivory, will be long remembered. In the practical arts of civil engi neering, the labours of Watt, Murdoch, Rennie, and Telford, will hear testimony to the remotest times of their pre-eminent talents. In history, Fordun, Bu chanan, Robertson, Hume, Stuart, Ferguson, Wat son, and Smollett. have shone forth with the highest lustre. Among our ethical writers may be enumerat ed Reid, Smith, Beattie, Oswald, Campbell, Lord Karnes, Lord Monboddo, and Stewart; among our no vellists, Smollett, Moore, Mackenzie, and Sir Walter Scott; among our anatomists and physicians, the Gregories and tke Monroes; among our critics, Blair and Karnes; among our antiquaries, Lord Hailes, Geddes, Pinkerton, Geo. Chalmers, and Dr. Jamie son; among our divines, Macknight, Blair, Logan, Moncreiff and Alison; among our painters, Runci man, Jamieson, Raeburn, Thomson, and Wilkie; and among our poets, Lermont, Barbour, Douglas, Ram say, Thomson, Mallet, Armstrong, Arbuthnot, Mic kle, Smollett, Beattie, Ferguson, Burns, Mackenzie, Baillie, Leyden, Scott, and Byron.