Geograph - photograph every grid square

There are three couplets carved on Mar's Wark; the words are as though spoken by the building itself to the onlooker. For the other two couplets, see NS7993 : Mar's Wark: couplet detail (south tower) and NS7993 : Mar's Wark: couplet detail (north tower).

The one shown here is above the principal archway (between the two projecting towers shown in NS7993 : Mar's Wark), but it is on the inside, facing away from the street, and hence not visible from outside; it reads as follows:

"Esspy speik fvrth and spair notht
Considdir veil I cair notht"

(Espy, speak forth, and spare not / Consider well, I care not)

(Or "spare naught" and "care naught", with no real change in meaning; compare the other couplets, where a final "—tht" takes the place of modern "—ght". As for the second line, the interpretation given above seems most likely, the sense then being "examine me closely if you wish, for I care not"; I suppose it is just possible, if less likely, that it could bear the meaning "mark well that I care not".)

Compare the spelling in NS7993 : Inscribed stone on Spittal Street, conscious imitation on a relatively modern tablet.