1 We have dwelt longer on Capt. Birch's performance than its size might seem to demand, from a strong conviction of the infinite importance of the subject in the present crisis of the empire. The author appears to be a man of sound judg. ment and enlightened views, and we hope that his pamphlet will awaken the general attention of the country to a sys. tem of national defence without the adoption of which very precarious will be the tenure of our laws, our property, and our lives. If the war be continued, it is a moral certainty that an invasion of this country will sooner or later be attempted. The probabilities are that the attempt will fail; but the enemy may land a large army of veterans on our shores. With only such a tremendous possibility, for we will not call it probability, before our eyes, ought we for a moment to hoodwink our sight to the awful conflict which then awaits us, when all that we hold most dear will be put at stake on the uncertain issue of war? Let us by timely and vigorous preparation endeavour to chain the fickleness of fortune, to guard against the worst reverses which we can experience, and to commit as little as possible to the hazard of a die. Let us learn wise and vigorous precaution even from our inveterate enemy, who,even while he was conquering in Poland did not neglect the defensive frontier of France. It is said that Fortune is the deity whom Bonaparte most adores; but though he has hitherto enjoyed the smiles of this lady he is TOO DISCREET TO TRUST ANY THING TO HER INCONSTANCY. He knows her sorceries, and none of her blandishments can lull him into security or inaction. While he seems fondled, like a spoiled child in her embrace, he still retains the energy of a man, and he does all that human exertion can do to secure his end. In this respect and not in his unprincipled aggressions on neutral states, it seems both wise and good to follow his example. ART.XI.-An etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, illustrating the Words in their different Significations, by Examples from antient and modern Writers; shewing their Affinity to those of other Languages, and especially the Northern; explaining many Terms which, though now obsolete in England, were formerly common to both Countries; and elucidating national Rites, Customs, and Institutions in their Analogy to those of other Nations, to which is prefixed a Dissertation on the Origin of the Scottish Language. By John Jamieson, D. D. Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and of the Society of the Antiquaries of Scotland. 2 vols. 4to. 41. 4s. boards. Longman. 1808. A DICTIONARY of the Scotch language has long been a literary desideratum, which we are happy to see at last supplied by the industry and learning of Dr. Jamieson, who has spent the leisure of twenty years in the execution. We should have been sorry if such a performance had not made its appearance, or if it had been longer delayed; for the vernacular language of Scotland is gradually becoming merged in the more polished and useful dialect of South Britain; and perhaps another century will hardly elapse before the Scotch will cease to exist, except in the writings of the dead. Since the union of the two kingdoms, the Scotch idiom has been gradually becoming more and more absorbed in the English, and for want of the mere early compilation of a dictionary, the meaning of many terms which might have been preserved, is now irrecoverably lost. Dr. Jamieson remarks with great truth, that, 'till of late, even those who pretended to write glossaries to the Scottish books which they published, generally explained the terms, which almost every reader understood, and quite overlooked those that were more ancient and obscure.' Within these few years,' says the author of this valuable work, 'A taste for Scottish literature has revived both in Scotland and England. Hence the want of an etymological dictionary has been felt more than ever; and it may well be supposed that all who possess a genuine taste for the literary productions of their country, must feel disposed to encourage a work which is necessary, not merely for illustrating their beauties, but, in many instances, even for rendering them intelligible.' Among other qualifications which tend to make his work more interesting than a dictionary usually is, Dr. Jamieson has, under various words, embraced the opportunity of explaining many of the customs and manners of ancient times to which they refer; many of which were hitherto involved in obscurity. The knowledge of ancient manners often reflects light on the obscurities of language; and language, in its turn, often serves to elucidate many peculiarities in ancient modes. If as an etymologist, Dr. Jamieson seldom merits the praise of extraordinary penetration, yet great good sense, and a competent portion of judgment, never suffer him to deviate into those fanciful absurdities, which so often chequer the pages of Skinner and other etymologists. Though language is usually considered an arbitrary invention, yet in the formation men are certainly governed by those laws of association and resemblance, which have such powerful influence on all the actions of sensitive and intellectual existence. The appropriation of terms, and the multiplication of the secondary meanings, which those terms are applied to denote, are not matters of such capricious and fortuitous accomplishment as Horace seemed to suppose. Even a primary or radical term is seldom a capricious or arbitrary designation; some real or supposed analogy or resemblance influences the choice; but when we come to extend the radical signification of a word into a complex ramification of meanings, the operation of analogy is still more evident. The perception of one resemblance leads to another, till the relation of the superinduced meaning to the primary signification almost entirely disappears. But the erudition, the good sense, and the penetration of a lexicographer are seen in tracing the significations of words, not only through their more palpable and immediate, but their more delicate and less perceptible shades of resemblance. Numerous words present an extensive and complicated variety of meanings; the duty of the philologist is to trace those meanings like a well drawn pedigree, from the parental source to the most remote relation. Thus the art of the lexicographer is, in some measure, allied to that of the metaphysician; for both are employed in tracing the operations of mind. A well-digested dictionary, in which the words were analysed into their several simple ideas, and in which the near resemblances were regularly traced up to the more remote, would serve, in some measure, like a treatise of philosophy to illuminate the mind. Even savages are quick in discerning those resemblances, which are employed to give new shades and turns to the significations of words; and the resemblances which they descry, though they may be usually gross, and drawn rather from physical appearances than from moral, or intellectual qualities still seem to mark the operations of mind, and prove the formation of words and of the meanings which are annexed to them, to be in general the effect not so much of arbitrary convention as of deliberate choice, influenced by those considerations which have their origin in the organization of man. remark of Condillac in his "Langue des Calculs," may well be opposed to the authority of Horace. Les langues ne sont pas un ramas d'expressions prise au hasard, ou dont on ne se sert que parce qu'on est convenu de s'en servir. Si l'usage de chaque mot suppose une convention, la convention suppose une raison qui fait adopter chaque mot. Et l'analogie, qui donne la loi,et sans laquelle il seroit impossible de s'entendre, ne permet pas une choix absolument arbitraire.' In an elaborate dissertation on the origin of the Scottish language which Dr. Jamieson has prefixed to the first volume of his dictionary, he has endeavoured to prove that the language, which is spoken in the low-lands of Scotland, is not, as has been commonly supposed, a dialect of the English or rather of the Anglosaxon, but a branch of the ancient Gothic, immediately derived from an early settlement of a colony from Scandinavia. Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History, lib. 1. c. 1. says, that the northern parts of Britain were peopled by Picts from Scythia. This account exactly coincides with that of the Saxon chronicle, p. 1,edit. Gibson. Hence the nation is called Scyttisc. and the country Scytan lond. Bede evidently makes a distinction between the Picts and Britons, or Welsh, which he would not have done if they had not been a different people. For he says; cum plurimam insulæ partem possedissent (Britones) contigit gentem Pictorum de Scythia, ut perhibent, longis navibus non multis oceanum ingressam, &c. • Had they (the Picts)' says Dr. Jamieson, 'been Welsh or indeed Celts of any description, the similarity of language could not have entirely escaped his observation. If an intelligent highlander, can at this day, after a national separation of fourteen hundred years make himself understood by an Irishman, it is totally inconceivable that the language of the Picts, if Britons, should have so far lost its original character in a far shorter period.' Mr. Chalmers in his Caledonia disputes the testimony of Bede respecting the Scythian extraction of the Picts; but we think that his objections are ably repelled by Dr. Jamieson; and that he has clearly made out the claim of his ancestors to a Gothic origin. But as this discussion is not likely to be very interesting to our readers except as far as it teaches us where principally to seek the etymons of the Scottish language, we shall not expatiate upon it at greater length. In criticising a dictionary our limits will unfortunately hardly allow us to exhibit more than a few specimens of the execution with the general result of our enquiries into its merits or defects. We shall extract our specimens indifferently from the several letters of the alphabet which will 1 exhibit a better idea of the work itself than a more curious and deliberate selection. • Aich. s. Echo; pron. as x in Gr. ήχος, vox. This is the only word used in Angus to denote the repercussion of sound. In the Gothic dialects echo has had no common appeilation. It is evident that our forefathers have originally considered it as something supernatural. For it has received a variety of personal designations. In A. S. it is called werdu-maere, or the wood-land nymph; maere not being confined to the night-mare, but used as a generic term. The northern nations give it the name of Dwerga-mal, or the speech of the fairies, pigmies, or Droichs, (for our word droich, acknowledges the same origin) which were supposed to inhabit the rocks. The Celtic nations seem to have entertained a similar idea. For echo in Gael. is Mactulah, i. e. the lone son of the rock." This short extract will serve as a specimen of the interesting matter with which the author has diversified his explanations. Perhaps the word itself may not inaptly be derived from the Saxon eacan augere, to augment by the addition of something like. Echo is a repetition of the sound; and this repetition would naturally influence the choice of a name for the thing. • To aigh, v. a. To owe, to be indebted. Aighand, owing, S. B. Su G. aeg-a, id. Jag aeger honom saa mycket; Tantum illi debeo; Thre. Isl, eig-a. But as the primary sense of these words is, to possess, we may view ours as also allied to Moes G. Aig-an, A. S. ag-an habere, possidere. Thus a transition has been made from the idea of actual possession to that of a right to possess; and the term which primarily signifies what one has, is transferred to what he ought to have. Gr. εχω, habeo, seems to have a common origin! The English word ought as the preterite of owe comes from the Gothic aigan, Germ. eigan, and when we employ the term morally, and say that A or Bought to do this or that we mean that A or B is morally indebted in the performance of such and such works. The English word duty which is commonly derived from the French devoir, is more properly a descendant of the German thun, and denotes something to be done or which ought to be done. * Aits, s. pl. oats s. The corns are good in Blainshes; |