of riding the stang; next Maggie Murdy has an exemplary character of a good wise wife; deep drinking and bloodless quarrels make an end of an old tale."

The canto is given entire, except the last two stanzas, and, as an imitation of the ancient, is of course unaltered.

CANTO III.

Now frae th' east nook o' Fife the dawn
Speel'd westlines up the lift,
Carles wha heard the cock had craw'n,
Begoud to rax2 an' rift:

An' greedy wives wi' girning thrawn,
Cry'd, lasses up to thrift;
Dogs barked, an' the lads frae hand
Bang'd to their breeks like drift,
Be break o' day.

But some wha had been fou3 yestreen,
Sic as the letter-gae,4

Air up,5 had nae will to be seen,
Grudgin their groat to pay.
But what aft fristed's no forgien,7

Whan fouk has nought to say;
Yet sweer were they to rake their een,
Sic dizzy heads had they,

8

An' het that day.
Be that time it was fair foor days,9
As fou's the house cou'd pang,
To see the young fouk' ere they raise,
Gossips came in ding dang,
An' wi' a soss aboon the claiths,

Ilk ane their gifts down flang: 10 Twall toop-horn-spoons" down Maggy lays,

Baith muckle-mou'd an' lang,

But Mause begrutten was an' bleer'd,
Look'd thowless, dowf, an' sleepy;
Auld Maggy kend the wyte, an' sneer'd,
Ca'd her a poor daft heepy :
"It's a wise wife that kens her weird,3
What tho' ye mount the creepy;
There a good lesson may be lear'd,
An' what the waur will ye be
To stand a day?
"Or bairns 4 can read they first maun spell;
I learn'd this frae my mammy,
An' coost a leglen girth 5 mysel,

Lang or I married Tammy.
I'se warrand ye have a' heard tell

O' bonny Andrew Lammy, Stiffly in loove wi' me he fell,

As soon as e'er he saw me:
That was a day."
Het drink, fresh butter'd caiks, an' cheese,
That held their hearts aboon,

Wi' clashes, 6 mingled aft wi' lies,
Drave aff the hale forenoon :
But after dinner, an ye please,
To weary not o'er soon,

We down to e'ening edge wi' ease
Shall loup, an' see what's done
I' the doup o' day.
Now what the friends wad fain been at,
They that were right true blue,
Was e'en to get their wysons wat,7

An' fill young Roger fou:
But the bauld billy 8 took his maut,

An' was right stiff to bow;
He fairly gae them tit for tat,

An' scour'd aff healths anew,9
Clean out that day.

A creel bout fou 10 o' muckle stanes,
They clinked on his back;

To try the pith o's rigg an' reins,

They gart him cadge this pack.
Now as a sign he had taen pains,
His young wife was nae slack,
To rin an' ease his shouther-banes,
An' sneg'd the raips1 fu' snack,
Wi' her knife that day.

Syne the blyth carles, tooth an' nail,
Fell keenly to the wark;
To ease the gantrees o' the ale,

An' try wha was maist stark;
Till boord an' floor, an' a' did sail
Wi' spilt ale i' the dark,
Gart Jock's fit2 slide, he, like a fail,
Play'd dad, an' dang the bark
Aff's shin that day.

The souter, miller, smith, an' Dick,
Et cet'ra, closs sat cockin,
Till waisted was baith cash an' tick,
Sae ill they were to slocken:
Gane out to in gutters thick,

Some fell, an' some gade rockin;
Sawney hang sneering on his stick,
To see bauld Hutchon bockin 3
Rainbows that day.

The smith's wife her black deary sought,
An' fand him skin an' birn;

Quoth she, " 'This day wark's be dear bought;"

He bann'd an' gae a girn, Ca'd her a jad, an' said she mucht 4 Gae hame an' scum her kirn: "Whish't, ladren !5 for gin ye sae ought Mair, I'se wind ye a pirn,6

To reel some day."

"Ye'll wind a pirn ! ye silly snool,

Wae worth ye'r drunken saul," Quoth she, an' lap out o'er a stool, An' claught him by the spaul:

"Ye'r tippanizing, scant o' grace,"
Quoth she, " gars me gang duddy: 1
Our neibour Pate sin break o' day's
Been thumpin at his studdy;
An it be true that some fouk says,
Ye'll girn yet in a woody : "2
Syne wi' her nails she rave his face,
Made a' his black baird bloody
Wi' scarts that day.

A gilpy 3 that had seen the faught,
I wat he was nae lang,
Till he had gather'd seven or aught
Wild hempies 4 stout an' strang;
They frae a barn a kaber raught,5
Ane mounted wi' a bang,
Betwish't twa's shoulders, an' sat straught
Upon't an' rade the stang

6

On her that day.

The wives an' gytlings7 a' spawn'd out
O'er middings, an' o'er dykes,
Wi' mony an unco skirl an' shout,

Like bumbees frae their bykes;
Thro' thick an' thin they scour'd about,
Splashing thro' dubs an' sykes,

An' sic a reird ran thro' the rout,
Gart a' the hale town tykes
Yamph loud that day.

But d'ye see, fu' better bred

Was mensfu' 9 Maggy Murdy, She her man like a lammy led

Hame, wi' a weel-wail'd to wordy.

Fast frae the company he fled,
As he had taen the sturdy ;
She fleech'd him fairly to his bed,
Wi' ca'ing him her burdy,

Kindly that day.

But Lawrie he took out his nap

Upon a mow o' pease;

An' Robin spew'd in's ain wife's lap;
He said it gaed him ease:
Hutchon wi' a three-lugged cap,

His head bizzin wi' bees,
Hit Geordy a mislushious rap,
An' brak the brig o's neese

Right sair that day. Syne ilka thing gaed arse o'er head; Chanlers, boord, stools, an' stoups, Flew thro' the house wi' muckle speed,

An' there was little hopes

But there had been some ill-done deed,
They gat sic thrawart cowps;
But a' the skaith that chanc'd indeed
Was only on their dowps,

Wi' fa's that day.

THE EAGLE AND THE ROBIN REDBREAST.

[This, too, is an imitation of an ancient Poem.]

THE prince of all the fethert kind,
That wi' spread wings out-flies the wind,
And tow'rs far out of human sicht
To view the schynand' orb of licht;
This ryall bird, tho' braif and great,
And armit strang for stern debait,
Nae tyrant is, but condescends
Aftymes to treit inferior friends.

Ane day at his command did flock
To his hie palace on a rock,
The courtiers of ilk various size
That swiftly swim in chrystal skies;

Thither the valiant Tersals doup,'
And heir rapacious Corbies2 croup,
Wi' greidy Gleds an' slie Gormahs,
An' dinsome Pyis an' clatterin Daws;
Proud Pecocks an' a hundred mae,
Bruscht up their pens that solemn day,
Bow'd first submissive to my Lord,
Then tuke their places at his borde.

Mein time, quhile feisting on a fawn,
An' drinking bluid frae lammies drawn,
A tunefull Robin, trig an' zung,3
Hard by upon a bour-tree4 sung.
He sang the Eagle's ryall lyne,
His persing ee an' richt divyne,
To sway out-owre the fetherit thrang,
Quha dreid his martial bill an' fang:5
His flicht sublime, an' eild renewit,
His mind with clemencie endewit ;
In safter notes he sang his luve,
Mair hie his beiring bolts for Jove.

The monarch Bird, with blythness hard The chanting litil silvan bard, Calit up a Buzart who was then His favourite an' chamberlane. Swith to my treasury, quod he, An' to zon canty Robin gie As meikle o' our current geir As may mentain him thro' the zeir: We can weel spair't, an' it's his due. He bad, an' furth the Judas flew, Straight to the brench quhair Robin sung, An' wi' a wickit lieand tung, Said, Ah! ze sing sae dull an' ruch, Ze haif deivt7 our lugs mair than enuch, His Majestie has a nyse eir, An' nae mair o' zour stuff can beir ; Poke up zour pypes, be nae mair sene At court, I warn ze as a frien.

He spak, quhyle Robinis swelling breist, An' drouping wings his grief exprest, The teirs ran happing doun his cheik,

An honest miller won'd in Fife, That had a young an' wanton wife, Wha sometimes thol'd3 the parish-priest To mak her man a twa-horn'd beast: He paid right mony visits till her, An' to keep in wi' Hab the miller, He endeavour'd aft to mak him happy, Where'er he kent the ale was nappy.4 Sic condescension in a pastor, Knit Halbert's love to him the faster; An' by his converse, troth 'tis true, Hab learn'd to preach when he was fou. Thus all the three were wonder pleas'd, The wife well serv'd, the man weel eas'd. This ground his corn, an' that did cherish

Himself wi' dining round the parish:

7 Deafened.

8 Pack.