The int'rests of our Constituents,
And punish contravening truants.

Then Brown an' Dow above-design'd,
For clags an' clauses there subjoin'd,
We, Court aforesaid, cite and summon,
That on the fourth o' June in comin,
The hour o'Cause, in our Court ha'
At Whitefoord's Arms, ye answer Law.
But, as reluctantly we punish,
An' rather mildly would admonish:
Since better punishment prevented
Than obstinacy sair repented;
Then, for that ancient secret's sake
You have the honor to partake;
An' for that noble badge you wear,
You, Sandie Dow, our Brother dear,
We give you as a Man and Mason,
This private, sober, friendly lesson.
Your crime, a manly deed we view it,
A man alone can only do it;
But, in denial persevering,

Is to a scoundrel's name adhering.

*

*

*

*

*

To tell the truth's a manly lesson,
An' doubly proper in a Mason.

This, our futurum est Decreet,

We mean it not to keep a secret ;
But in our summons here insert it,
And whoso dares may controvert it.

This, mark'd before the date and place is; Subsignum est per Burns the Preses.

(L. S.) B..

1 VAR. "Sigillum" (MS.).

This summons and the Signet mark Extractum est, per Richmond, Clerk,

Ꭱ .

At Mauchline, twenty-fifth of May,'
About the twalt hour o' the day,
You twa, in propria persona,
Before design'd Sandie and Johnie,
This summons legally have got,

As vide Witness under-wrote;

Within the house of John Dove, Vintner,
Nunc facio hoc-Gullelmus Hunter.

d.

EPITAPH FOR JAMES SMITH.2

LAMENT him, Mauchline husbands a',
He aften did assist ye;

For had ye staid hale weeks awa,
Your wives they ne'er had miss'd
Ye Mauchline bairns, as on ye press
To school in bands thegither,
O tread ye lightly on his grass,-
Perhaps he was your father!

ye.

ADAM ARMOUR'S PRAYER.3

GUDE pity me, because I'm little!
For though I am an elf o' mettle,

1 VAR. "idem date of June" (MS.).

2 James Smith was a clever, dark-complexioned little man. See Burns's Epistle to him (p. 218).

3 The parents of Jean Armour lived at the back of the Inn; but her namesake who is the subject of the present poem was in no way related to her. "Geordie" was another Mauchline innkeeper, whose “jurr,” or female servant, had committed some error

An' can, like ony wabster's' shuttle,

Jink there or here,

Yet, scarce as lang's a gude kail-whittle,2

An' now Thou kens our woefu' case;
For Geordie's jurr we're in disgrace,
Because we stang'd' her through the place,
An' hurt her spleuchan;
For whilk we daurna show our face

Within the clachan."

An' now we're dernd in dens and hollows,
And hunted, as was William Wallace,
Wi' constables-thae blackguard fallows,
An' sodgers baith;

But Gude preserve us frae the gallows,

That shamefu' death!

6

that caused a kind of "hue and cry" against her among the neighbours. Thus encouraged, a band of reckless young fellows, with Adam Armour for a ringleader, "rade the stang" upon the offender. Geordie, who sympathised with his "jurr," resented this lawless outrage, and raised criminal proceedings against the perpetrators. Adam Armour, who was an ill-made little fellow of some determination, had to abscond, and during his wanderings he happened to fall in with Burns, who, after commiserating the outlaw, conceived the " Prayer" here put into his lips (Scott Douglas).-This piece was first printed in the " Edinburgh Magazine" for 1808, and was included in Hogg and Motherwell's edition. Some writers have doubted its authenticity.

i weaver's.

3

very.

5

دو

2 cabbage-knife.
journeywoman.

4

'Riding the stang was a kind of lynch law, executed against obnoxious persons, by carrying them shoulder-high through the village astride a rantle7 village.

tree.

6 a purse hidden.

of animal's skin.

Auld grim black-bearded Geordie's sel'-
O shake him owre the mouth o' hell!
There let him hing, an' roar, an' yell
Wi' hideous din,

And if he offers to rebel,

Then heave him in.

When Death comes in wi' glimmerin blink,
An' tips auld drucken Nanse1 the wink,
May Sautan gie her doup a clink"

2

Within his yett,*

An' fill her up wi' brimstone drink,

Red-reekin het.

Though Jock an' hav'rel' Jean" are merrySome devil seize them in a hurry,

An' waft them in th' infernal wherry

Straught through the lake,

An' gie their hides a noble curry

Wi' oil of aik!

As for the jurr-puir worthless body!
She's got mischief enough already;
Wi' stanget hips, and buttocks bluidy,

She's suffer'd sair;

But, may she wintle in a woody,"

If she wh-e mair!

2 breech. 5 silly. 6 Geordie's son and daughter. 8 reel on the gallows.

THE JOLLY BEGGARS.-A CANTATA.1

Recitativo.

WHEN lyart leaves bestrow the yird,3
Or wavering like the bauckie-bird,*
Bedim cauld Boreas' blast;

6

When hailstanes drive wi' bitter skyte,5
And infant frosts begin to bite,
In hoary cranreuch drest;
Ae night at e'en a merry core
O' randie,' gangrel" bodies,
In Poosie-Nansie's held the splore,"
To drink their orra duddies:
Wi' quaffing and laughing,
They ranted an' they sang,
Wi' jumping an' thumping,
The vera girdle11 rang.

11

10

1 One night Burns, accompanied by James Smith and Richmond, ventured into a noisy assemblage of beggars who were making merry in an alehouse kept by Mrs. Gibson, known as "Poosie Nancy." After witnessing some of the jollity there, the three young men left; and in the course of a few days Burns recited a part of this poem to Richmond, who told Chambers that, to the best of his recollection, it contained songs by a Sweep and by a Sailor which do not now appear in the finished cantata. "The Jolly Beggars" was first published, in an imperfect form, in 1799, and the complete poem was printed in 1801. Burns put the piece on one side, and had forgotten its existence when reminded of it by Thomson in 1793.

10 superfluous rags.

3

ground.

6 frost.

9 frolic.

7 noisy.

11 A thin circular plate of iron for baking cakes.