Background Information

This is a case from the minute book of Glasgow Burgh Justice of the Peace Court, 1677 (Glasgow City Archives reference B3/2).

On the whole this is a neat hand, with good line spacing, but some care is required, especially with regard to the letter w and also to descending letters. In the test, the name of the baillie (the magistrate) and the two parties in the case have been left blank for you to fill in, along with one or two other words. The writer uses at least two types of w. One is the common Secretary Hand type and can be seen in the word within in line 1. The second is a curly w and can be seen in the word glasgow in line 2. This second type of w - the curly form - is easily confused with the double-l, such as that used in the words Bell and baillie in line 5.

Other letters or combinations of letters can be mistaken for a curly w or vice versa. The lb in tolbuith (line 2) and the k in q[uhi]lk (line 6) are two examples.

Be very careful with descending letters, such as the long s, the h, the x, the f, and the p. Note how similar these can appear, for example in line 21: Except annent the words of.

Some Scots words which appear are:

These will recur in the other examples, sometimes in abbreviated form.

Image reproduced with permission of Glasgow City Council, Mitchell Library.

Take the Test

The document has been divided into 4 sections. Read the section shown in the image and transcribe the word you think is missing from the text below by typing in the appropriate blank space. The text will be red as you type and will turn black when you have transcribed the word correctly.

If you would prefer to complete the tutorial on paper go to Print The Test.

Transcription of lines 1-6

Transcription of lines 7-12

Transcription of lines 13-18

Transcription of lines 19-23

Read the full transcription