[Footnote 41: A learned writer has published, in the Transactions of the Society of Scotish Antiquaries, a Dissertation on the Scoto-Saxon Dialect; of which, as the work is not in every body's hands, the reader may not be displeased with a short account. The author maintains this proposition; that the Scoto-Saxon dialect was, at the time of the union of the two nations, equal in every respect, and in some respects superior, to the Anglo-Saxon dialect. He lays it down as a principle, that three things constitute the perfection, or rather the relative superiority, of a language: richness, energy, and harmony. He observes, that a language is rich in proportion to the copiousness of its vocabulary, which will principally depend, 1. on the number of its primitive or radical words; 2. on the multiplicity of its derivations and compounds; and, 3. on the variety of its inflections. In all, or almost all of these respects, he shows the superiority of the Scotish dialect of the Saxon to the English. The Scots have all the English primitives, and many hundreds besides. The Scots have derivatives from diminution, which the English entirely want: e. g. _hat_, _hatty_, _hattiky_; _lass_, _lassie_, _lassiky_. The degrees of diminution are almost unlimited: _wife_, _wifie_, _wifiky_, _wee wifiky_, _wee wee wifiky_, &c. Both the English, and Scots, dialects are poor in the inflections; but the Glossary to Douglas's Virgil will shew that the Scotish inflections are both more various, and less anomalous, than the English. Energy is the boast both of the English, and the Scotish, dialects; but, in this author's opinion, the Scotish poetry can furnish some compositions of far superior energy to any cotemporary English production. With respect to harmony, he gives his suffrage likewise in favour of the Scotish dialect. He observes, that the _sh_ rarely occurs; its place being supplied by the simple _s_, as in _polis_, _punis_, _sal_, &c. The _s_ itself is often supplied by the liquids _m_ or _n_; as in _expreme_, _depreme_; _compone_, _depone_. Harsh combinations of consonants are avoided: as in using _sel_, _twal_, _neglek_, _temp_, _stown_ or _stawn_, for _self_, _twelve_, _neglect_, _tempt_, _stolen_. Even the vowel sounds are, in this author's opinion, more harmonious, in the Scots, than in the English, dialect; as the open _a_, and the proper Italic sound of _i_. For further elucidation of this curious subject, the Dissertation itself must be referred to, which will abundantly gratify the critical reader. It is proper here to observe, that the remarks of this writer are the more worthy of attention, that he is himself an excellent Scotish poet, as the compositions subjoined to his Dissertation clearly evince. _Three Scotish Poems, with a previous Dissertation on the Scoto-Saxon Dialect, by the Rev. Alexander Geddes, LL.D., Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, vol. i., p. 402.]