As Laocon that was Neptunus priest, And chosin by cavil vnto that ilk office, Ane fare grete bull offerit in sacrifice, Solempnithe before the haly altere, Throw the still sey from Tenedos in fere, Lo twa gret lowpit edderis with mony thraw First throw the flude towart the land can draw. (My sprete abhorris this matter to declare) Aboue the wattir thare hals stude euirmare, With bludy creistis outwith the wallis hie, The remanent swam always vnder the se, With grisly bodyis lynkit mony fald, The salt fame stouris from the fard they hald, Unto the ground thay glade with glowand ene, Stuffit full of venom, fire and felloun tene, With tounges quhissling in thar mouthis red, Thay lik the twynkilland stangis in thar hed. We fled away al bludles for effere. Bot with ane braide to Laocon in fere Thay stert attanis, and his twa sonnys zyng First athir serpent lappit like ane ring, And with thare cruel bit, and stangis fell, Of tender membris tuke mony sory morsel; Syne thay the preist invadit baith twane, Quhilk wyth his wappins did his besy pane His childer for to helpen and reskew. Bot thay about him lowpit in wympillis threw, And twis circulit his myddel round about, And twys faldit thare sprutillit skynnis but dout, About his hals, baith neck and hed they schent. As he ettis thare hankis to haue rent, And with his handis thaym away haue draw, His hede bendis and garlandis all war blaw Full of vennum and rank poysoun attanis, Quhilk infekkis the flesche, blude, and banys. s. 190. In the way of orthography, the most characteristic difference between the English and Scotch is the use, on the part of the latter, of _qu_ for _wh_; as _quhen_, _quhare_, _quhat_, for _when_, _where_, _what_. The substitution of _sch_ for _sh_ (as _scho_ for _she_), and of _z_ for the Old English _[gh]_ (as _zour_ for _[gh]eowr_, _your_), is as much northern English as Scotch. {131} In pronunciation, the substitution of _d_ for _dh_ (if not a point of spelling), as in _fader_ for _father_; of _a_ for _o_, as _b['a]ith_ for _both_; of _s_ for _sh_, as _sall_ for _shall_; and the use of the guttural sound of _ch_, as in _loch_, _nocht_, are the same. The ejection of the _n_ before _t_, or an allied sound, and the lengthening of the preceding vowel, by way of compensation, as in _begouth_ for _beginneth_, seems truly Scotch. It is the same change that in Greek turns the radical syllable [Greek: odont] into [Greek: odous]. The formation of the plural of verbs in _-s_, rather than in _-th_ (the Anglo-Saxon form), is Northern English as well as Scotch:--Scotch, _slepys_, _lovys_; Northern English, _slepis_, _lovis_; Old English, _slepen_, _loven_; Anglo-Saxon _slepiadh_, _lufiadh_.