Or women sonsie, saft an' sappy,

"Tween morn an' morn, As them wha like to taste the drappie In glass or horn?

I've seen me daezt upon a time;

I scarce could wink or see a styme; Just ae hauf mutchkin does me prime, Ought less is little,

Then back I rattle on the rhyme,

As gleg's a whittle.

LXXVIII.

ON THE BLANK LEAF OF A

WORK BY HANNAH MORE,

PRESENTED BY MRS. C

THOU flattering work of friendship kind, Still may thy pages call to mind

The dear, the beauteous donor;
Though sweetly female every part,
Yet such a head, and more the heart,
Does both the sexes honour.

She showed her taste refined and just
When she selected thee,

Yet deviating, own I must,

For so approving me.

But kind still, I'll mind still
The giver in the gift;
I'll bless her, and wiss her
A Friend above the Lift.

MOSSGIEL, April, 1786.

LXXIX.

TO THE MEN AND BRETHREN OF THE

MASONIC LODGE AT TARBOLTON.

WITHIN your dear mansion may wayward contention,

Or withering envy ne'er enter;
May secrecy round be the mystical bound,
And brotherly love be the centre.

EDINBURGH, 23 August, 1787.

LXXX. IMPROMPTU

[The tumbler on which these verses are inscribed by the diamond of Burns, found its way to the hands of Sir Walter Scott, and is now among the treasures of Abbotsford.]

YOU'RE welcome, Willie Stewart,

You're welcome, Willie Stewart;

There's ne'er a flower that blooms in May, That's half sae welcome's thou art.

Come bumpers high, express your joy,
The bowl we maun renew it;
The tappit-hen gae bring her ben,
To welcome Willie Stewart.

May foes be strang, and friends be slack,
Ilk action may he rue it,

May woman on him turn her back,
That wrongs thee, Willie Stewart.

LXXXI.

PRAYER FOR ADAM ARMOUR.

[The origin of this prayer is curious. In 1785, the maid-servant of an innkeeper at Mauchline, having been caught in what old ballad-makers delicately call "the deed of shame," Adam Armour, the brother of the poet's bonnie Jean, with one or two more of his comrades, executed a rustic act of justice upon her, by parading her perforce through the village, placed on a rough, unpruned piece of wood: an unpleasant ceremony, vulgarly called "Riding the Stang." This was resented by Geordie and Nanse, the girl's master and mistress: law was resorted to, and as Adam had to hide till the matter was settled, he durst not venture home till late on the Saturday nights. In one of these home-comings he met Burns, who laughed when he heard the story, and said, “You have need of some one to pray for you." "No one can do that better than yourself," was the reply, and this humorous intercession was made on the instant, and, as it is said, "clean off loof." From Adam Armour I obtained the verses, and when he wrote them out, he told the story in which the prayer originated.]

LORD, pity me, for I am little,
An elf of mischief and of mettle,
That can like ony wabster's shuttle

Jink there or here,

Though scarce as lang's a gude kale-whittle, I'm unco queer.