"SCREEDS OF LATIN"
SIR,—In last week's issue your correspondent J. G. Gilchrist writes: "I'm sure you are aware that we in Scotland do not learn Latin. We never did and never will. . . ." This statement is both irrelevant and untrue. No one acquainted with mediaeval Scots poetry can be unaware of its debt to Latin—e.g., the "aureate diction" of the Kingis Quhair and The Golden Targe, let alone the refrain Timor mortis conturbat me in Dunbar's Lament for the Makars. Some of the finest poems, too, in the Good and Godly Ballatis are those deriving from Latin originals. I mention these facts in order to affirm that a good Scotsman is also a "good European" if he is truly aware of his country's cultural heritage, and that he is not so proud of his ignorance as to let Mr. Gilchrist's
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