VI.

Quoth I, 'With a' my heart, I'll do't;
I'll get my Sunday's sark on,
An' meet you on the holy spot;

Faith we'se hae fine remarkin!'
Then I gaed hame at crowdie-time,
An' soon I made me ready;

For roads were clad, frae side to side,
Wi' monie a wearie bodie,

In droves that day.

VII.

Here farmers gash, in ridin graith,
Gaed hoddin by their cotters;
There, swankies young, in braw braid-claith,
Are springin o'er the gutters.

The lasses, skelpin barefit, thrang,

In silks an' scarlets glitter;

Wi' sweet-milk cheese, in monie a whang,

An' farls bak'd wi' butter

Fu' crump that day.

VIII.

When by the plate we set our nose,
Weel heaped up wi' ha'pence,
A greedy glowr Black Bonnet throws,

An' we maun draw our tippence.

Then in we go to see the show,

On ev'ry side they're gathrin,

Some carrying dales, some chairs an' stools, An' some are busy blethrin

Right loud that day.

C

IX.

Here stands a shed to fend the show'rs,
An' screen our countra Gentry,
There, racer Jess, an' twa-three wh-res,
Are blinkin at the entry.

Here sits a raw of tittlin jades,

Wi' heaving breast and bare neck, An' there a batch of wabster lads, Blackguarding frae Kck, For fun this day.

X.

Here some are thinkin on their sins,
An' some upo' their claes;
Ane curses feet that fyl'd his shins,
Anither sighs an' prays:

On this hand sits a chosen swatch,

Wi' screw'd up grace-proud faces; On that a set o' chaps at watch, Thrang winkin on the lasses

To chairs that day.

XI.

O happy is that man an' blest!

Nae wonder that it pride him! Whase ain dear lass, that he likes best,

Comes clinkin down beside him!

Wi' arm repos'd on the chair back,

He sweetly does compose him;

Which, by degrees, slips round her neck, An's loof upon her bosom,

Unken'd that day.

XII.

Now a' the congregation o'er
Is silent expectation;

For ****** speels the holy door,
Wi' tidings o' d-mn-t-n.
Should Hornie, as in ancient days,
'Mang sons o' G-present him,
The vera sight o' *****'s face,
To's ain het hame had sent him

Hear how he clears the points o' faith
Wi' rattlin an' thumpin!

Now meekly calm, now wild in wrath,
He's stampin an' he's jumpin!
His lengthen'd chin, his turn'd-up snout,
His eldritch squeel and gestures,

O how they fire the heart devout,

Like cantharidian plasters,

On sic a day!

XIV.

But, hark! the tent has chang'd its voice; There's peace an' rest nae langer:

For a' the real judges rise,

They canna sit for anger.

***** opens out his cauld harangues, On practice an' on morals;

An' aff the godly pour in thrangs,

To gie the jars an' barrels

A lift that day.

XV.

What signifies his barren shine,
O' moral pow'rs and reason?
His English style, an' gesture fine,
Are a' clean out o' season.
Like Socrates or Antonine,

Or some auld pagan Heathen,
The moral man he does define,
But ne'er a word o' faith in
That's right that day.

XVI.

In guid time comes an antidote
Against sic poison'd nostrum ;
For *******, frae the water-fit,
Ascends the holy rostrum:
See, up he's got the word o' G→→→
An' meek an' mim has view'd it,
While Common-Sense has ta'en the road,
An' aff, an' up the Cowgate,

Fast, fast, that day.

XVII.

Wee ******, niest, the Guard relieves,

An' Orthodoxy raibles,

Tho' in his heart he weel believes,›

An' thinks it auld wives' fables: But, faith! the birkie wants a Manse, So, cannily he hums them;

Altho' his carnal wit an' sense

Like hafflin's-ways o'ercomes him

At times that day.

XVIII.

Now butt an' ben, the Change-house fills,
Wi' yill-caup Commentators:
Here's crying out for bakes and gills,

An' there the pint-stowp clatters; While thick an' thrang, an' loud an' lang, Wi' Logic, an' wi' Scripture,

They raise a din, that, in the end,

Is like to breed a rupture

O' wrath that day.

XIX.

Leeze me on Drink! it gies us mair
Than either School or College:
It kindles wit, it waukens lair,
It pangs us fou o' knowledge.
Be't whisky gill, or penny wheep,
Or ony stronger potion,

It never fails, on drinking deep,

To kittle up our notion

By night or day.

XX.

The lads an' lasses, blythely bent
To mind baith saul an' body,
Sit round the table, weel content,
An' steer about the toddy.

On this ane's dress, an' that ane's leuk,
They're making observations;
While some are cozie i' the neuk,

An' formin assignations

To meet some day.