BURNS OBSCURITIES.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16721, 2 January 1920, Page 9

BURNS OBSCURITIES.

<♦ TWO SCOTCH WORDS AND THEIPv MEANING. I have so long Keen a; eiiMoinod to sit (metaphorically) at the tcet r,f Mr .1. Logic lJohcrtson that any disposition to (piestion his authoiity 011 poiitt-i of Sottish literature e>in<'s upon me with a shfK-k of sijiprUi- iniiic- ''W.S." in the ' Weekly Seotsn:<in">. In last u'eek's iv«ue of th-..> "S-ot-man." however. a correspondent not only calls his authority jn <(iie-lion, l.ut evi'ii g'X's so lar us to as>ert that in a stanza from "Death and Dr» 1 lorrilirook.'' Mr .J. L. Hobertfon's interpretation is "entirely urong.'' Relieving, 011 the contrary, .Mr •1. I/. ltohertsonV interpretation to be correct-, I crave leave to intervene in the controversy, with a few plain words. The stanza referred to represents "Death"' speaking: "put up your whittle, 1 m 110' designed to try it*, mettle: Hut if I did, I wad bo kittle To bo niislesir'd; 7 wad na rnind it, no that spittle Outr-owro iny heard."' (1) Notice here the grammatical construction of the ln>t four lines. There are two subordinate clauses dependent on tho words "Rut if I did."' These clauses are "7 wad be kittle to be mislear'd" _ and "1 wad 11a mind it, no that spittle, ' etc. The firstclause is a quiet warning to ,take care, not to go too far. In the second them is it, ris-ing indignation, a growing irritation against a puny adversary. There is no connecting "and" to join the clauses together. It is tho common device _of a public speaker who goes on piling 'up Pelion on Ossn, clause upon clause, until his adversary succumbs. (2) "To bo inislea'r'd"— what does it mean? Here wo need l>o at no loss. Burns himself has given the meaning, and we aro bound to accept his sense of tho word. "MisleacM,"_he savs, is "mischievous" or "unmannerly." Sew notes in Volume I._ of Henley and Henderson's edition of Hums. 7f I may be allowed to indJcato a preference, I should consider "unmannerly" as more in keeping with the ordinary senso of "mislear'd."