So turning to his horse, he said,

"I am in haste to dine;

'T was for your pleasure you come here, You shall go back for mine."

Ah, luckless speech, and bootless boast!
For which he paid full dear;

For, while he spake, a braying ass
Did sing most loud and clear;

Whereat his horse did snort, as he
Had heard a lion roar,

And galloped off with all his might,
As he had done before.

Away went Gilpin, and away
Went Gilpin's hat and wig:

He lost them sooner than at first;
For why?-they were too big.

Now Mrs. Gilpin, when she saw
Her husband posting down

Into the country far away,

She pulled out half-a-crown;

And thus unto the youth, she said,

That drove them to the Bell,

"This shall be yours, when you bring back My husband safe and well."

The youth did ride, and soon did meet
John coming back amain;

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204

208

212

216

220

Whom in a trice he tried to stop,

By catching at his rein;

But not performing what he meant,

And gladly would have done,

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66

Thus seeing Gilpin fly,

With postboy scampering in the rear,

They raised the hue and cry :—

Stop thief! stop thief!-a highwayman!"

Not one of them was mute;

236

And so he did, and won it too,

For he got first to town;

Nor stopped till where he had got up

He did again get down.

248

Now let us sing, Long live the king!
And Gilpin long live he;

And, when he next doth ride abroad,

May I be there to see!

1785.

252

William Cowper.

66

THE LAIRD O' COCKPEN

THE Laird o' Cockpen, he's proud an' he's

great,

His mind is ta'en up wi' the things o' the state;
He wanted a wife his braw house to keep,
But favor wi' wooin' was fashious to seek.

Down by the dyke-side a lady did dwell,
At his table-head he thought she'd look well;
McClish's ae daughter o' Claverse-ha' Lee,
A penniless lass wi' a lang pedigree.

His wig was weel pouthered, and guid as new; His waistcoat was white, his coat it was blue; He put on a ring, a sword, and cocked hat,— And wha could refuse the Laird wi' a' that?

He took the gray mare, and rade cannilie,—
And rapped at the yett o' Claverse-ha' Lee;

Gae tell Mistress Jean to come speedily ben:
She's wanted to speak to the Laird o'

Cockpen."

4

8

12

16

Mistress Jean was makin' the elder-flower wine; "An' what brings the Laird at sic a like time?" She put aff her apron, and on her silk gown, Her mutch wi' red ribbons, and gaed awa'

down.

An' when she cam ben, he bowed fu' low,
An' what was his errand he soon let her know.
Amazed was the Laird when the lady said,

"Na";

And wi' a laigh curtsie she turned awa.

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24

Dumfoundered he was, but nae sigh did he gie; He mounted his mare-he rade cannilie,

And aften he thought, as he gaed through the glen,

"She's daft to refuse the Laird o' Cockpen." 28

[And now that the Laird his exit has made, Mistress Jean she reflected on what she had

said;

"Oh! for ane I'll get better, it's waur I 'll get ten; I was daft to refuse the Laird o' Cockpen." 32

Next time that the Laird and the lady were

seen,

They were gaun arm-in-arm to the kirk on the

green;

Now she sits in the ha' like a weel-tappit hen,
But as yet there's nae chickens appeared at

Cockpen.]

1822-4?

Carolina Oliphant (Baroness Nairne).

36

TAM O'SHANTER

A TALE

Of Brownyis and of Bogillis full is this Buke.
GAWIN DOUGLASS.

WHEN chapman billies leave the street,
And drouthy neebors neebors meet;
As market-days are wearing late,
An' folk begin to tak the gate;
While we sit bousing at the nappy,
An' getting fou and unco happy,
We think na on the lang Scots miles,
The mosses, waters, slaps, and styles,
That lie between us and our hame,
Whare sits our sulky, sullen dame,
Gathering her brows like gathering storm,
Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.

This truth fand honest Tam O'Shanter,
As he frae Ayr ae night did canter:
(Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses,
For honest men and bonnie lasses).

O Tam, hadst thou been but sae wise,
As taen thy ain wife Kate's advice!
She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum,
A blethering, blustering, drunken blellum;

ΙΟ

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