ways on the same page. There are, however, many constant peculiarities,
some of which may have a linguistic interest, thus 'laugh' 'rough' 'enough'
'through' are spelt with a final _t_. The use of a final but silent _t_ Mr.
Mackay in his introduction to Pitscottie,[41] p. cxl, says is a distinct
mark of Scots of the middle period. 'Voyage,' 'sponge,' and 'large' are
sometimes spelt without the final _e_. 'Knew,' 'slew,' 'blew' are spelt
'know,' 'slow,' 'blow.' 'Inn' is spelt 'innes.' 'See' is always spelt 'sy'
or 'sie,' and 'weigh,' 'wy.' But these are only examples, taken at random.
'One,' 'off,' 'too,' 'thee' are spelt 'on,' 'of,' 'to,' 'the,' a snare to
the unwary reader. 'V' and 'W' are frequently interchanged.

[39] Lauder's French in the Journal in France is full of mistakes,
both of grammar and spelling. He was only learning the language.

[40] Cf. Bishop Dowden's introduction to Lauderdale Correspondence
(S.H.S.), _Miscellany_, vol. i. p. 230.

[41] _Historic and Chronicles of Scotland_, by Robert Lindesay of
Pitscottie (Scottish Text Society, 1899).

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 difficult to trace.[42] Most of them are quite
intelligible to persons who have been accustomed to hear Lowland Scots
spoken, but for the sake of other readers I have been convinced that
occasionally interpretation is not superfluous.

[42] One of them is 'dron,' p. 146. With reference to the words '_7
arbres_,' in the description of the Mail at Tours, p. 20, Mr. A.
Lang has suggested to me that _arbres_ might be a term in the _Jeu