been by mine.
To Miss Sally Glover, Dr W. J. Irvine, Dr J. S. A. Sawers, and all other members of the National Health Service whose care and skill saved me from going blind four years ago, I can only say:
Non è l’ affezion mia tanto profonda
che basti a render voi grazia per grazia:
ma quei che vede e puote a ciò risponda.
Elsewhere22 Dante shortly defines “the vernacular speech” as “that which we acquire without any rule, by imitating our nurses”; and I wish penultimately to record my lifelong gratitude to my dear nurse Gregor for having, inter alia, familiarised me in childhood with our “nobler speech”. In conclusion, I cannot, however, find words sufficient to thank my wife Priscilla for all the help and encouragement that she has abundantly supplied from her store of grace.
Edinburgh
17 February 1983
R. L. C. LORIMER
POSTSCRIPT, Strathtummel, 30 January 1985. The text here printed has been collated with my father’s manuscripts and supersedes those printed in the first three impressions.
I am particularly grateful to Professor G. P. Henderson, for having supplied several corrections, and to Dr A. R. Rennie, formerly Registrar General of Scotland, for having pointed out that in the first impression the genealogy printed on p. 105 contains no record of Isaac’s birth.
R. L. C. L.
THE NEW TESTAMENT
SIGLA
R=MS. Variants written on recto pages.
L=MS. Alternative Renderings written on previous verso pages.
Superior Arabic numerals in printed text refer to Notes contained in Appendix III (below, pp. 457 ff.). All passages stigmatised in the Translator’s manuscript are here enclosed in double square brackets [[ ]].
MATTHEW’S GOSPEL
1 GENEALOGIE O JESUS CHRIST, the son o Dauvit, the son o Abraham: Abraham wis the faither o Isaac; Isaac o Jaucob; Jaucob o Judah an his brithers; Judah o Perez an Zârah, bi Tâmar; Perez o Hezron; Hezron o Ram; Ram o Ammínadab; Ammínadab o Nahshon; Nahshon o Salma; Salma o Boaz, bi Râhab; Boaz o Obed, bi Ruth; Obed o Jessè; Jessè o Kíng Dauvit.
Dauvit wis the faither o Solomon, bi Uríah’s wife; Solomon o Rehoboam; Rehoboam o Abíjah; Abíjah o Asa; Asa o Jehoshaphat; Jehoshaphat o Joram; Joram o Azaríah; Azaríah o Jotham; Jotham o Ahaz; Ahaz o Hezekíah; Hezekíah o Manasseh; Manasseh o Amon; Amon o Josíah; Josíah o Jechoníah an his brithers, at the time o the Cairriein-Awà tae Babylon.
Efter the Cairriein-Awà, Jechoníah wis the faither o Shealtiel; Shealtiel o Zerubbabel; Zerubbabel o Abíud; Abíud o Elíakim; Elíakim o Azor; Azor o Zâdok; Zâdok o Achim; Achim o Elíud; Elíud o Eleâzar; Eleâzar o Matthan; Matthan o Jaucob; Jaucob o Joseph, the husband o Mary, the mither o Jesus, at is caa’d Christ. Sae there is fowrteen generâtions in aa frae Abraham til Dauvit; fowrteen frae Dauvit til the Cairriein-Awà tae Babylon; an fowrteen frae the Cairriein-Awà til Christ.
THIS IS THE storie o the birth o Jesus Christ. His mither Mary wis trystit til Joseph, but afore they war mairriet she wis fund tae be wi bairn bi the Halie Spírit. Her trystit husband Joseph, honest man, hed nae mind tae affront her afore the warld an wis for brakkin aff their tryst hidlinweys; an sae he wis een ettlin tae dae, whan an angel o the Lord kythed til him in a draim an said til him, “Joseph, son o Dauvit, be nane feared tae tak Mary your trystit wife intil your hame; the bairn she’s cairriein is o the Halie Spírit. She will beir a son, an the name ye ar tae gíe him is Jesus, for he will sauf his fowk frae their sins.”
Aa this happent at the wurd spokken bi the Lord throu the Prophet micht be fufilled:
Behaud, the virgin will bouk an beir a son,
an they will caa his name Immanuel—
that is, “God wi us”.
Whan he hed waukit frae his sleep, Joseph did as the angel hed bidden him, an tuik his trystit wife hame wi him. But he bedditna wi her or she buir a son; an he caa’d the bairn Jesus.
2 JESUS WIS BORN at Bethlehem in Judaea i the days o Kíng Herod, an it wis nae time efter his birth or a curn spaemen frae the Aist cam tae Jerusalem an begoud speirin, “Whaur is the Kíng o Jews at hes come hame eenou? We saw the risin o his stairn, an ar come wast for tae wurship him.”
Kíng Herod wis sair pitten about tae hear that, an een sae wis the haill o Jerusalem. Sae he convened aa the Heid-Príests an Doctors o the Law i the kintra an speired at them whaur the Christ wis tae be born.
“At Bethlehem in Judaea,” said they, “een as the Prophet says in his buik:
‘An thou, Bethlehem i the Laund o Judah,
is naegate the least amang the Clans o Judah,
for frae thee will gang furth a leader
at will herd my peiple Israel’.”
Herod than caa’d the spaemen til him in hidlins, an whan he hed lairnt frae them the day an hour o the stairn’s kythin, he sent them awà tae Bethlehem, biddin them gang their waas an seek out aa the speirins they coud win at anent the bairn: “An whan ye hae fund him,” qo he, “bring me back wurd, sae at I may gae an wurship him mysel.”
They did een as the Kíng baud them, an tuik the gate; an, behaud, thair wis the stairn gaein on afore them, on an on, or it stappit abuin the houss whaur the bairn wis; an byous blythe war they tae see the stairn! Syne they gaed ben, an saw the bairn, wi Mary his mither; an they fell on their knees an wurshippit him, an apnin their treisur-kists, they laid gifts afore him—gowd, an frankincense, an myrrh. Than they fuir awà hame anither gate nor they hed come, sin they hed been warnished in a draim no tae gae back til Herod.
Efter their wagang belyve an angel kythed til Joseph in a draim an said til him, “Rise ye up an tak the bairn an his mither an haud awà til Egyp; for Herod ettles tae seek the bairn, for tae kill him.”
Sae Joseph rase an tuik the bairn an the bairn’s mither throu the nicht an gaed doun intil Egyp, an steyed there till Herod’s deith. For sae it buid be, at the wurd spokken bi the Lord throu the mouth o the prophet micht be fufilled: “I cried my son frae Egyp.”
Whan Herod saw at he hed been joukit bi the spaemen, he wis reid-wud wi teen, an sent an slauchtert aa the man-bairns intil the haill o Bethlehem, toun an laundart, at wis twa year auld or less, conform til the time he hed lairnt frae the spaemen. Than wis fufilled the wurd spokken bi Jeremíah the Prophet:
A cry wis hard in Râmah,
yammer an murnin an nae devaul—
Rachel yammerin for her bairntime,
an comfort nane wad she tak,
for at they warna nae mair.
But, whan Herod díed, belyve an angel o the Lord kythed in a draim til Joseph in Egyp an said til him, “Rise ye up an tak the bairn an his mither an haud awà til the Laund o Israel, for them at socht the bairn’s life is deid.” Sae Joseph rase an tuik the bairn an the bairn’s mither an fuir awà til the Laund o Israel. But whan he heared at Archelâus wis Kíng o Judaea in place o his faither Herod, he wis fleyed tae gang back there an owre the heid o a warnishment in a draim drew aff intil the pairt o Galilee an there sattelt in a toun caa’d Nazareth, at the wurd spokken bi the Prophets micht be fufilled: “He will be caa’d a Nazaraean.”
3 ABOUT THAT TIME John the Baptist kythed i the muirs o Judaea,