wish the diphthong OU to have its proper value, I may write
OOR instead of OUR; many have done so and lived, and the
pillars of the universe remained unshaken. But if I did so,
and came presently to DOUN, which is the classical Scots
spelling of the English DOWN, I should begin to feel uneasy;
and if I went on a little farther, and came to a classical
Scots word, like STOUR or DOUR or CLOUR, I should know
precisely where I was - that is to say, that I was out of
sight of land on those high seas of spelling reform in which
so many strong swimmers have toiled vainly. To some the
situation is exhilarating; as for me, I give one bubbling cry
and sink. The compromise at which I have arrived is
indefensible, and I have no thought of trying to defend it.
As I have stuck for the most part to the proper spelling, I
append a table of some common vowel sounds which no one need
consult; and just to prove that I belong to my age and have in
me the stuff of a reformer, I have used modification marks
throughout. Thus I can tell myself, not without pride, that I
have added a fresh stumbling-block for English readers, and to
a page of print in my native tongue, have lent a new
uncouthness. SED NON NOBIS.

I note again, that among our new dialecticians, the local
habitat of every dialect is given to the square mile. I could
not emulate this nicety if I desired; for I simply wrote my
Scots as well as I was able, not caring if it hailed from
Lauderdale or Angus, from the Mearns or Galloway; if I had
ever heard a good word, I used it without shame; and when
Scots was lacking, or the rhyme jibbed, I was glad (like my
betters) to fall back on English. For all that, I own to a