Wi' mair o' horrible and awfu", Which ev'n to name wad be unlawfu'. As Tammie glow'r'd, amaz'd, and curious, The mirth and fun grew fast-and furious: The piper loud and louder blew, The dancers quick and quicker flew; They reel'd, they set, they cross'd, they cleekit, Till ilka carlin swat and reekit, And coost her duddies to the wark, And linket at it in her sark! Now Tam, O Tam! had they been queans, A' plump and strapping, in their teens; Their sarks, instead o' creeshie flannen, Been snaw-white, seventeen hunder linen! These breeks o' mine, my only pair, That ance were plush, o' guid blue hair, I wad hae gi'en them aff my hurdies, For ae blink o' the bonie burdies! But wither'd beldams, auld and droll, But Tam kenn'd what was what fu' brawlie; (Lang after kenn'd on Carrick shore! Her cutty-sark, o' Paisley harn, It was her best, and she was vauntie. But here my Muse her wing maun cow'r ; Tam tint his reason a' thegither, As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke, When, pop! she starts before their nose! Wi' monie an eldritch screech and hollow! Ah, Tam! ah, Tam! thou'll get thy fairin' In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin! In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin'! Now, wha this tale o' truth shall read, It is a well known fact, that witches, or any evil spirits, have no power to follow a poor wight any farther than the middle of the next running stream. It may be proper likewise to mention to the benighted traveller, that when he falls in with Bogles, whatever danger may be in his going forward, there is much more hazard in turning back. [The following poem will, by many readers, be well enough under stood; but for the sake of those who are unacquainted with the manners and traditions of the country where the scene is cast, notes are added, to give some account of the principal charms and spells of that night, so big with prophecy to the peasantry in the west of Scotland. The passion of prying into futurity makes a striking part of the history of human nature in its rude state, in all ages and nations; and it may be some entertainment to a philosophic mind, if any such should honor the author with a perusal, to see the remains of it among the more unenlightened in our own.] HALLOWEEN.* Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain, I. UPON that night when fairies light, Beneath the moon's pale beams; There, up the cove, to stray an' rove * It is thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief. making beings, are all abroad on their baneful midnight errands; particularly those aerial people, the fairies, are said on that night to hold a grand anniversary. ↑ Certain little, romantic, rocky, green hills, in the neighborhood of the ancient seat of the earls of Cassilis. A noted cavern near Colean-house, called the Cove of Colean; which, as well as Cassilis Downans, is famed in country story for be ing a favorite haunt for fairies. Amang the rocks an' streams, To sport that night. II. Amang the bonie, winding banks, Where Doon rins, wimplin, clear, Some merry, friendly, countra folks, Together did convene, To burn their nits, an' pou their stocks, An' haud their Halloween, Fu' blythe that night. III. The lasses feat, an' cleanly neat, IV. Then first and foremost, thro' the kail, Their stocks maun a' be sought ance; The famous family of that name, the ancestors of Robert, the great deliverer of his country, were earls of Carrick. †The first ceremony of Halloween is, pulling each a stock, or plant of kail. They must go out, hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first they meet with. Its being big or little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the size and shape of the grand object of all their spells husband or wife. If any yird, or earth, stick to the root, that is toucher, the |