Coffins stood round, like open presses, And by some devilish cantrip1 slight A murderer's banes in gibbet airns;2 A thief, new-cutted frae a rape, Whom his ain son o' life bereft, As Tammie glowr'd, amaz'd But wither'd beldams, auld and droll, Rigwoodie hags, wad spean a foal, Lowping and flinging on a crummock,9 I wonder didna turn the stomach, But Tam kend what was what fu' brawlie, "There was ae winsome wench and That night enlisted in the core, And kept the country-side in fear), and The mirth and fun grew fast and furious: Wi' twa pund Scots ('twas a' her Wad ever grac'd a dance of witches! 1 Magic. 2 Irons. 3 Clothes. Greasy. The manufacturing term for a fine linen, woven in a reel of 1700 divisions. Cromek. 13 Bought. 14 Then. As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke,1 When plundering herds assail their byke;2 As open pussie's mortal foes, When, pop! she starts before their nose; As eager runs the market-crowd, When, "Catch the thief!" resounds aloud; So Maggie runs, the witches follow, Wi' mony an eldritch skreech 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! But left behind her ain gray tail; Ilk man and mother's son, tak heed; 1 Bustle, 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. R. B. 4 Effort. An old-fashioned head-dress. Ribbon-ends. Flannel vest. A bonnet, named after Lunardi, whose balloon made him notorious in Scotland about 1785. The shrivelled dwarf. SAMUEL BUTLER. [From Hudibras.] THE LEARNING OF HUDIBRAS. He was in logic a great critic, Profoundly skill'd in analytic; He could distinguish and divide A hair 'twixt south and south-west side; On either which he would dispute, Confute, change hands, and still confute. He'd undertake to prove, by force And rooks committee-men and trus tees. He'd run in debt by disputation, In mood and figure he would do. Which made some think, when he did gabble, They'd heard three laborers of Babel· The ignorant for current took 'em; He would have used no other ways. His mouth, but out there flew a Could take the size of pots of ale; trope: And when he happened to break off And tell what rules he did it by: For all a rhetorician's rules In loftiness of sound, was rich; Of patch'd and piebald languages: 'Twas English cut on Greek and Latin, Like fustian heretofore on satin. Whate'er the crabbed'st author hath, He understood by implicit faith: Whatever sceptic could inquire for, For ev'ry why he had a wherefore; Knew more than forty of them do, As far as words and terms could go: All which he understood by rote, And, as occasion serv'd, would quote No matter whether right or wrong, They might be either said or sung. His notions fitted things so well, That which was which he could not tell But oftentimes mistook the one For th' other, as great clerks have done. He could reduce all things to acts, And knew their natures by abstracts; Where entity and quiddity, The ghosts of defunct bodies fly, Where truth in person does appear, Like words congeal'd in northern sir. He knew what's what, and that's as high As metaphysic wit can fly. [From Hudibras.] More peevish, cross, and splenetic, Than dog distract, or monkey sick; That with more care keep holy-day The wrong, than others the right way: Compound for sins they are inclined to, By damning those they have no mind to: Still so perverse and opposite, THE BIBLICAL KNOWLEDGE AND Another, nothing else allow. RELIGION OF HUDIBRAS. HE knew the seat of Paradise, it Below the moon, or else above it: What Adam dreamt of, when his bride Came from her closet in his side; When they throw out and miss the matter. For his religion, it was fit And prove their doctrine orthodox A sect whose chief devotion lies All piety consists therein In them, in other men all sin. age Their best and dearest friend, plumporridge. [From Hudibras.] THE KNIGHT"S STEED. THE beast was sturdy, large, and tall, With mouth of meal, and eyes of wall. I would say eye; for he had but one, And yet so fiery he would bound |