'Weel, weel!' says I, 'a bargain be 't; Come, gie's your news; This while ye hae been mony a gaet, 'Ay, ay!' quo' he, and shook his head, Sin' I began to nick the thread, And choke the breath: Folk maun do something for their bread, 'Sax thousand years are near hand fled Till ane Hornbook's taen up the trade, 'Ye ken Jock Hornbook i' the clachan, The weans haud out their fingers laughin', 'See, here's a scythe, and there's a dart, And cursed skill, Has made them baith no worth a ; "Twas but yestreen, nae further gaen, Wi' less, I'm sure, I've hundreds slain; It just played dirl3 on the bane, But did nae mair. limbs road village tobacco-pouch children pluck in plain prose a solecism, the poet appears to have had the ordinary figure of Time in view, rather than that of Death. 1 Alluding to a recent epidemical fever. 2 Buchan's Domestic Medicine, then a popular book, and of course a readily available manual for a village Galen. A short tremulous stroke. As soon's he smells 't, Baith their disease and what will mend it And then a' doctor's saws and whittles, Their Latin names as fast he rattles 'Calces o' fossils, earths, and trees; Aqua-fontis, what you please, 'Forbye some new, uncommon weapons, Or mite-horn shavings, filings, scrapings, Sal-alkali o' midge-tail clippings, And mony mae.' 'Wae's me for Johnny Ged's Hole' now, Nae doubt they 'll rive it wi' the pleugh; 1 The parish gravedigger. cabbage-root tumbled over daisies 2 The church-yard, which had occasionally been used as an enclosure for calves. VOL. I. The creature grained an eldritch laugh, Tak ye nac fear: They'll a' be trenched wi' mony a sheugh, 'Whare I killed ane a fair strae death, Has clad a score i' their last claith, 'An honest wabster to his trade, Whase wife's twa nieves were scarce weel-bred, The wife slade cannie to her bed, A bonny lass, ye ken her name, Horn sent her aff to her lang hame, 'A country laird had taen the batts, The lad, for twa guid gimmer-pets, That's just a swatch o' Hornbook's way; Thus goes he on from day to day, Thus does he poison, kill, and slay, An's weel paid for 't; Yet stops me o' my lawfu' prey 'But hark! I'll tell you of a plot, As dead's a herrin': Niest time we meet, I'll wad a groat, H unearthly furrow young ewes But just as he began to tell, The auld kirk-hammer strak the bell, I took the way that pleased mysel', Now commences that burst of poesy which we have spoken of as so remarkable in Burns's history. Early in this year, on Fasten's e'en (Anglice, Shrovetide), there was a rocking at Mossgiel. Gilbert explains this term:-'It is derived from those primitive times when the country-women employed their spare hours in spinning on a rock or distaff. This simple instrument is a very portable one, and well fitted to the social inclination of meeting in a neighbour's house; hence the phrase of going a-rocking, or with the rock. As the connection the phrase had with the implement was forgotten when the rock gave place to the spinning-wheel, the phrase came to be used by both sexes on social occasions, and men talk of going with their rocks as well as women.' There was then a simple frugal social meeting at Mossgiel, when, among other entertainments, each did his or her best at singing. One sang a pleasing specimen of the rustic lore of Ayrshire, understood to be the composition of a person now in advanced years, named Lapraik, residing at Muirkirk. It was expressive of the happy affection of a husband for his wife during a period of misfortunes, and was as follows:-' 'When I upon thy bosom lean, Enraptured I do call thee mine, I glory in those sacred ties, That made us ane wha ance were twain. 1 The publication of this poem was of course discomfiting to the poor schoolmaster, though he is said to have been in reality a respectable man in his legitimate capacity, and even useful as a dispenser of medicines in a village which had then no medical practitioner within four miles. He afterwards left the place, in consequence of a dispute about salary with the heritors, and settled in Glasgow, where he long kept a respectable seminary for youth of both sexes. One who studied under him there, describes him as in general of easy temper, but remarkable for self-complacency. He ultimately rose to be session-clerk of the Gorbals, a comparatively lucrative situation. Gilbert Burns used to relate that Wilson once spoke to him of the poem. He said it was pretty severe in some things; but, on the whole, it was rather a compliment. This qualifying 'rather' amused Gilbert very much.-Letter of Miss Isabella Begg. Dr Hornbook died at an advanced age in 1839. Though Torbolton has not been much enlarged since his time, it has now three regular practitioners of medicine. A mutual flame inspires us baith, The tender look, the melting kiss; Even years shall ne'er destroy our love, Have I a wish, 'tis all for thee, I know thy wish is me to please; I'll lull me there, and take my rest, Her heart and mine are all the same; They're like the woodbine round the tree, That's twined till death shall us disjoin.' Burns was so much pleased with the ditty, that he soon after sent a versified epistle to the supposed author: EPISTLE TO J. LA PRAIK,' AN OLD SCOTTISH BARD. While briers and woodbines budding green, And paitricks scraichin' loud at e'cn, April 1, 1785. 1 And morning poussie whiddin seen, This freedom in an unknown frien' hare chat Lapraik is apparently the same name with Leprevick, honourable in the history of Scottish literature, as having been borne by one of the most distinguished of our early printers. In 1364, David II. confirmed a charter of William de Cunningham, Lord of Carrick, to James de Leprewick, of half the lands of Polkairne, in King's Kyle (Wood's Peerage, i. 321), which shews that there were persons of that name at an early period connected with the district. |