are trim two-storey houses with all modern
elegancies.

I have a pleasant recollection of this interesting village, not merely
from its associations with Burns (which Mr. T.F. Henderson in a dainty
little book has recently recounted anew), but also from the fact that
the natives keep alive the literary traditions of the place in quite a
worthy way. The local baker has written a fluent volume of Essays
dealing with village incidents and worthies, which proves, as Mr. Barrie
says, that life in every stage, if truthfully portrayed, is intensely
interesting, and that every window-blind is the curtain for some tragedy
or comedy.

THE SCOTCH LANGUAGE.

Very fine Scotch is still spoken in the rural districts of Ayrshire, and
most of Burns's dialect words are in daily use, at least by the older
generation. The Education Department has most wisely given encouragement
to the study of Lowland Scotch, and I do not see why a special grant
should not be given for special excellence in that department. Some
national movement for a complete Dictionary of Modern Scotch with
explanations in up-to-date philology ought to be organised.

During the lifetime of Sir Walter Scott, Dr. Jamieson published the
famous _Scottish Dictionary_, which still holds the field as the most
elaborate compendium of the Lowland dialects. Looked at in the light of
modern science, the derivations are often absurd and fanciful.
Jamieson's love for Gothic parallels led him constantly astray.
Nevertheless, his dictionary, as amended by various revisers, remains a
stately monument of industry and a necessary adjunct in the study of the
Scotch language.

In our own day, Dr. Murray of Oxford has compiled an illuminating
grammar of the language, indicating the various dialects of the Lowlands
and their geographical areas. Local antiquarians have also written out
lists of words special to particular counties. Dialect books, such as
the entertaining _Johnnie Gibb of Gushetneuk_, as well as Mr. Barrie's
delightful sketches, have put excellent specimens of provincial speech
within the hands of a wide circle of readers. A good dictionary of
modern Scotch, dealing with what has been written during the last two
centuries, would be a very useful and a very interesting compendium. It
would show that a great many expressive words employed by thirteenth
century English writers are still in use on the Scotch side of the
Border.

There is no denying the fact that book-Eng