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Otago Witness, Issue 2356, 20 April 1899, Page 61

'A CANADIAN ENTERPRISE. (Written for the Otago Witness.) By. The Sociocbat.

"And the twal' yetts war twal' pearls; ilka allenar yett ac pearl; and the causey o : the citie was pure gowd, like shinin' gless.'" — Hcvelation, chapter twonty-ane, verse 21. Mention has several times been made in the Witness of Poet Imrie, of Toronto, ! Canada, specimens of whose verse have been I quoted from time to time. In a biographi- I cal note readers were informed that Mr ■ Imrie was a printer as well as a poet, and J lie adds the triple "P " to his life . in that J he is publisher also, being a. member of ; tb.3 firm of Imrie, Graham, and Co., prin- I ters and publishers. That the firm was en- I terprising I had gathered from the publish- j ing of Mr Imrie's' own bulky volume of j verse and other books of prose and verse ! which have brought grist to the daily mill. >' From information to hand by the latesfc mail I learn that the firm has undertaken a I ■work that is somewhat unique in the pub- ! lisbing world, and one that should be of special interest to many readers of this journal — that is, the printing of the New Testament portion of the Bible in " braid Scotch." The author of this interesting work, the-j Rev. Win. Wye Smith, of St. Catherine's, Canada, years ago proved himself specially fitted and gifted for the task of translating the Bible into colloquial Scottish dialect, several chapters of the Gospel of Matthew so rendered having been contributed by him at various times to the Sunday School Times (Philadelphia), which .attracted some I attention. Writing on the subject, the rev. author has said that with respect to i style in dealing with a translation into the i dialect, whoever wrote in Scotch must necessarily conform to the dialect of Burns. Mr Wye Smith is himself a Borderer, but | in the New Testament (which he has com- ] pletcd, but is not in the position to print as a whole yet) he departs in the use of many words from Border usage in order to conform to Burns, whose influence has made the " Ayrshire " the classical dialect of tho Lowland Scotch — exactly as Petrarch and Dante, D3 r their writings 500 3 r ears ago, made their " Florentine " the literary dialect of the Italian. The author has approached his theme in a reverent spirit, and his rendering has not the archaic form and style of Hately Waddell's version of the Psalm's and Isaiah, the Canadian's style being more modern and flowiug, and consequently even I, who come from the wrong side .of .the Border, but have ever had a love for Burns, can read and enjoy the dia- i lecfc without a too frequent reference to j tUp copious glossary of the terms sup- i plied.

As examples, here are a few verses from the " Sermon on the Mount " (Matthew vi): —

"Whan ye wad do a gude wark, lat yere left haun no jalouse what yere richt haun is thrang avi'."

"Hhyme-na things ower and ower, incontinent, like the heathen folk: for they trow that gin they speak eneuch, they sal be heard."

" But ye, whan ye fast, snod yere heid, and freshen ycre face, that ye be-na seen by men to be fastin."

" And anent cleedin ; why soud ye hae sic cark and care? Look weel at the lilies o' the lea, how they growe; they toil-na, nor spin ; ye, say I, that Solomon, in a' his glorie, wasna bu&kit braw like ane o' thae." The " Lord's Prayer," with which the majority of general readers are familiar, reads almost as Greek to those lacking auld Scotia's twang : — " Faither o' us a', bidin Aboon ! Thy name be holie ! Lat Thy reign begin ! Lat Thy wull be dune, baith in Yirth and Heeven! (tie us ilka day oor needfu' fendin. Aud forgie us a' oor ill-deeds, as we c'en forgac thae wha did us ill : And lat us no be siftit ; but save us frae the 111-Aue I For the croon is Thine am, and the micht and the glorie, foi evrr and evir, Amen !" A number of friends having for some ■ time past urged the translator to put his work into print, Mi* Wye Smith has just published the Gospel of Matthew to le?t the practical support which the larger work is likely to receive. A copy of this pamphlet has been sent me by the publisher. It consists of 34 pages, crown octavo, with four pages of glossary, and is issued at the cheap price of 25c (12^d) - per copy. The postage to New Zealand would be 2d extra, and no doubt Scotchmen the world over ■will be auxious to obtain a copy. The New Testament is to be published afc 2dol (8s 4d) should sufficient inducement offer, or three copies will be sent for sdol (20s lOd), postage extra. Id the Gospel of Matthew before me I find the footnotes particularly interesting. For instance, the first verse of Chapter ii — which reads : " No, whan Jesus was born i' Bethlehem -Judah, i' the days o' King Herod, behauld! Wyss Men cam frae the East till Jerusalem '* — ■ calls forth this note : " The comin o' the Wyss Men wad be for some gude end. It ■wad pit gear i' Joseph's haun to gang till Egypt wi, but muckle mair, it wad open the* way i' the East for the Blythe-Message, eftirhaun carry'fc by the Apostles." This quaintness of expression is not confined to the footnotes, but is also observable in the chapter headings. Thus chapter iv is headed — " Santan has a tulzie wi' Christ. Jesus talcs up wi' Capernaum ; and bids a•wheen disciples." Chapter ix — "Twa hames •made blythe— Matthew and Jairus.' 1 Chapt.si xi— "John Baptist speirs; and Jesus answers. Folk that wadna speir, and wadna be speir't afc ! " Chapter xii — " Gratin teacbin — in field, kirk, and hoose ; but illmou'd thrawart scholars." Chapter xv — "What fyles a man? The Canaau-wum-man. A great dennei 'on sma' providin."

* "Tho Gospel of Mavthew m Broad Scotch, ' rendered by Rev. William Wj» Smith. Publishers: linrie, Graham, aud Co.. Toronto, Canada

Chapter xxviii — "Risin frae the deid. The sodgers sic pitifu' leears." For the beneSt of those unfortunate enough to have been born on the wrong side of the Border or colonial-born, I quote some terms from the glossary: — Abee — let alone; aiblins — perhaps; allenar, allenarlie — only, solely; faiddens — commands; buird — board, taole; deed — clothe; dour — obstinate ; eftirhaun — afterwards ; gowd — gold ; gude-mither — mother-in-law ; swither —to hesitate ; unco — strange, great, exceeding ; yap — hungry ; wheen — a few. I could not round off this article more aptly than by quoting Mr Wye Smith's preword to his proposed dialect version of the New Testament. As the whole preface provides an exercise for the English reader, and will supply all the sensation of meeting a familiar friend to the native of Auld Scotia, I attach it hereto without further "swithering." The translator says: Thar aro mony folk wha hae spoken English a' their grown-up days wha like to gang back till the tongue o' their bairnhood, i' the mirk and shadows o' auld age. Thar are ithers wha seem to tak the "Word till them better whan it comes till them wi' a wee o' the Scottish birr. And thar are a hantle o* folk — and I meet them a'-gate — wha divna speak Scots theirselH, but are keen to hear it, and like to read it. And thar is anither consideration — the Scots tongue is no gettin extendit, and some folk think it may bo tint a'thegither 'or lang. And God's Word is for a' men ; and ony lawfu' means ano can use to get folk to read it, and tak tent till't, are ricjit and proper. For a' thae reaEons, and ithers I could bring forrit, I hae putten the New Testament intil Braid Scots. Let nae man think it is a vulgar tongue — a mere gibberish to be dune wi' as i sune a3 ane is by the schule-time. It is an ancient and honourable tongue ; wi' rutes deep i' the yirth; aulder than muckle o' the English. It cam doon till us throwe oor Gothic and Piclish forbears ; it was had on tho battle-field wi' Bruce ; it waftit tho triuniphant prayers and sangs o' tho Martyrs intil Heeven ; it dirl't on tho tongue o' John Knox, denouncin wrang ; it sweeten't a' the heevenlie letters o' Samu'l Rutherford ; and anoath^ tho theek o' mony a muirland cottage it o'eri noo caries thanks till Heeven, and brings tho blessing doon. And I haeua putten pen till paper unbidden. A wheen screeds o' tho "Word duno intil Scots I had at times putten afore the public een ; and folk wad write me, " Hao yo ony mair o't? Is the hail Testament in •Scots to be gotten?" till I begude to think that aiblins Providence had gien me the Scots blude aud the Scots tongue- wi' tho American edication for the vera reason that — haejii baith lang'agec — I soud recommend Iho \vord in Scots; and juist Scots eneuch no to be unfathomable to the ordinar English reader. Whiles thar has been a chance o' makin the meanin plainer ; whiles a, Scots phrase o' unco' tenderness or wondrous pith eoud come in. And at a' times, ahint the pen that was movin, was a puir but leal Scots heart, fu' o' prayer that this sma' effort micht bo acceptit o' the dear Mai3ter — and, survivin a' the misea'in. o' the pernickity and the fashionable, micht bring the memory o' a worthy tongue, and the better knowledge o' a Blersed Saviour, to this ane and that ane, as they might chance to read it.