Aqua-fontis, what you please,

He can content ye.

"Forbye1 some new uncommon weapons,
Urinus spiritus of capons:

Or mite-horn shavings, filings, scrapings,
Distill'd per se;

Sal-alkali o' midge-tail clippings,

And monie mae.

172

"Waes me for Johnny Ged's Hole3 now,"
Quo' I, "if that the news be true!

4

His braw calf-ward, where gowans grew3
Sae white and bonnie,

Nae doubt they'll rive it wi' the pleugh;
They'll ruin Johnny!"

The creature grain'd an eldritch laugh,"
And says, "Ye need na yoke the pleugh,
Kirk-yards will soon be till'd eneugh.
Tak ye nae fear:

They'll a' be trench'd wi' monie a sheugh,"
In twa-three year.

"Whare I kill'd ane a fair strae death,
By loss o' blood or want o' breath,
This night I'm free to tak my aith,
That Hornbook's skill

Has clad a score i' their last claith,"
By drap an' pill.

"An honest wabster1o to his trade,

8

Whase wife's twa nieves" were scarce weel bred,
Gat tippence-worth to mend her head,

When it was sair

The wife slade cannie1 to her bed,

But ne'er spak mair.

"A. countra laird had taen the batts,"
Or some curmurring in his guts;

1 Besides.—2 More.—3 A name given to the grave-digger.-4 An inclosure for calves; the term is here used in allusion to the church-yard.-5 Daisies.--• Groaned a frightful laugh.-7 Ditch, or trench; i. e. will be filled with graves.-8 To die in bed, in a natural way.-9 Shroud.-10 A weaver11 Fists.-12 Slide gently, or dexterously.-13 Botts.—14 Murmuring, a slight rumbling noise.

His only son for Hornbook sets,
An' pays him well:

The lad, for twa guid gimmer pets,1
Was laird himsel.

"A bonnie lass, ye kenn'd her name,
Some ill-brewn drink had hoved her wame,2
She trusts hersel, to hide the shame,
In Hornbook's care;

Horn sent her aff to her lang hame,
To hide it there.

"That's just a swatch o' Hornbook's way;
Thus goes he on from day to day,
Thus does he poison, kill, an' slay,
An's weel paid for 't;

Yet stops me o' my lawfu' prey,
Wi' his d-mn'd dirt:4

But, hark! I'll tell you of a plot,
Tho' dinna ye be speaking o't;

I'll nail the self-conceited sot,

As dead's a herrin';

Niest time we meet, I'll wad a groat,
He gets his fairin'!”

But just as he began to tell,

The auld kirk-hammer strak the bell
Some wee short hour ayont the twal,
Which raised us baith:

I took the way that pleased mysel,
And sae did Death."

6

1 Ewe lambs.-2 Swelled her belly.-3 A sample.-4 By sending his patients to the church-yard.-5 Next.-6 The hour of one.

7 So irresistible was the tide of ridicule, on the publication of this poem, that John Wilson, alias Dr. Hornbook, was not only compelled to shut up shop as an apothecary, or druggist rather, but to abandon his school also, as his pupils one by one deserted him.

THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT.

INSCRIBED TO R. AIKEN, ESQ.

Let not ambition mock their useful toil,

Their homely joys and destiny obscure;
Nor grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile,

The short and simple annals of the poor.-Gray.

My loved, my honor'd, much respected friend!
No mercenary bard his homage pays;
With honest pride I scorn each selfish end,
My dearest meed, a friend's esteem and praise:
To you I sing in simple Scottish lays,

The lowly train in life's sequester'd scene;
The native feelings strong, the guileless ways;

What Aiken in a cottage would have been;
Ah! tho' his worth unknown, far happier there, I ween.

1

November chill blaws loud wi' angry sugh;'
The shortening winter-day is near a close;
The miry beasts retreating frae the pleugh;
The blackening trains o' craws to their repose;
The toil-worn Cotter frae his labor goes,

This night his weekly moil is at an end,
Collects his spades, his mattocks, and his hoes,
Hoping the morn in ease and rest to spend,
And weary, o'er the moor, his course does hameward
bend.

At length his lonely cot appears in view,
Beneath the shelter of an aged tree;

2

3

Th' expectant wee-things, todlin, stacher thro',
To meet their dad wi' flichterin noise and glee.
His wee bit ingle blinkin' bonnilie,

His clean hearth-stane, his thriftie wifie's smile,

The lisping infant prattling on his knee,

Does a' his weary, carking cares beguile,

An' makes him quite forget his labor and his toil.

1 The continued rushing noise of a strong wind.-2 Little children.

• Tottering.-4 Stagger.-5 Fluttering.- Small fireplace.

Belyve1 the elder bairns come drappin' in,
At service out, amang the farmers roun';
Some ca' the pleugh, some herd, some tentie3 rin
A cannie errand to a neebor town;

Their eldest hope, their Jenny, woman grown,
In youthfu' bloom, love sparkling in her e'e,
Comes hame, perhaps, to show a braw new gown,
Or deposite her sair-won penny-fee,

To help her parents dear, if they in hardship be.

Wi' joy unfeign'd brothers and sisters meet,
An' each for other's weelfare kindly spiers:3
The social hours, swift-wing'd, unnoticed fleet;
Each tells the uncos that he sees or hears:
The parents, partial, eye their hopeful years;
Anticipation forward points the view.

The mother, wi' her needle an' her shears,

Gars auld claes look amaist" as weel's the new; The father mixes a' wi' admonition due.

Their masters' and their mistresses' command,
The younkers a' are warned to obey;
An' mind their labors wi' an eydent' hand,
An' ne'er, tho' out o' sight, to jauk® or play ;
An' oh! be sure to fear the Lord alway!

An' mind your duty, duly, morn an' night!
Lest in temptation's path ye gang9 astray,

Implore his counsel and assisting might:
They never sought in vain that sought the Lord aright!

But hark! a rap comes gently to the door:
Jenny, wha kens the meaning o' the same,
Tells how a neebor lad cam o'er the moor,
To do some errands, and convoy her hame.
The wily mother sees the conscious flame

Sparkle in Jenny's e’e, and flush her cheek;
Wi' heart-struck anxious care, inquires his name,
While Jenny hafflins" is afraid to speak;

Weel pleased the mother hears, it's nae wild, worthless

rake.

1 By and by.-2 Carefully.-3 To inquire.-4 Strange sights, tales, or stories. -5 Makes. Almost.-7 Diligent.-8 Dally, or trifle - Go.-10 Partly.

Wi' kindly welcome Jenny brings him ben ;'
A strappan youth; he taks the mother's eye;
Blythe Jenny sees the visit's no ill ta'en;

The father cracks of horses, pleughs, and kye;
The youngster's artless heart o'erflows wi' joy,
But blate and laithfu', scarce can weel behave;
The mother, wi' a woman's wiles, can spy

3

What makes the youth sae bashfu' and sae grave; Weel pleased to think her bairn''s respected like the lave."

O happy love! where love like this is found!
O heart-felt raptures! bliss beyond compare!
I've paced much this weary mortal round,

And sage experience bids me this declare-
If Heaven a draught of heavenly pleasure spare
One cordial in this melancholy_vale,

'Tis when a youthful, loving, modest pair,

In other's arms breathe out the tender tale,
Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale.

Is there in human form that bears a heart-
A wretch! a villain! lost to love and truth!
That can, with studied, sly, ensnaring art,
Betray sweet Jenny's unsuspecting youth?
Curse on his perjured arts! dissembling smooth!
Are honor, virtue, conscience, all exiled?

Is there no pity, no relenting ruth,

6

Points to the parents fondling o'er their child? Then paints the ruin'd maid, and their distraction wild!

But now the supper crowns their simple board!
The halesome parritch,' chief o' Scotia's food:

The soup their only hawkie does afford,

That 'yont' the hallan10 snugly chows her cud:
The dame brings forth, in complimental mood,
To grace the lad, her weel-hain'd kebbuck" fell,12
An' aft he 's press'd, an' aft he ca's it good;
The frugal wifie, garrulous will tell,

13

How 'twas a towmond auld,13 sin' lint was i' the bell.14

1 In the country parlor.-2 Bashful.-3 Sheepish.—4 Child.—5 The rest, the others.-6 Sorrow.-7 Wholesome porridge.-8 Cow.-9 Beyond.—10 A partition-wall in a cottage, or a seat of turf at the outside.-11 Well-saved or well-kept cheese.-12 Well-savored, of good relish.-13 A twelvemonth old.14 Since flax was in the flower.