Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the rout is taen,

Beneath the moon's pale beams;
There, up the Cove*, to stray an' rove
Amang the rocks an' streams

To sport that night.

II.

Amang the bonny, windin banks,

Where Doon rins, wimplin, clear,

Where BRUCE † ance rul'd the martial ranks, An' shook his Carrick spear,

Some merry, friendly, countra folks,

Together did convene,

To burn their nits, an' pou their stocks,

An' haud their Halloween

Fu' blythe that night.

* A noted cavern near Colean-house, called the Cove of Colean; which, as well as Cassilis Downans, is famed, in country story, for being a favourite haunt of fairies.

The famous family of that name, the ancestors of ROBERT, the great Deliverer of his Country, were Earls of Carrick.

III.

The lasses feat, an' cleanly neat,

Mair braw than when they 're fine;
Their faces blythe, fu' sweetly kythe,
Hearts leal, an' warm, an' kin' :
The lads sae trig, wi' wooer-babs,
Weel knotted on their garten,
Some unco blate, an' some wi' gabs,
Gar lasses hearts gang startin

Whiles fast at night.

IV.

Then first and foremost, thro' the kail, Their stocks* maun a' be sought ance;

The first ceremony of Halloween is, pulling each a Stock, or plant of kail. They must go out, hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first they meet with : Its being big or little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the size and shape of the grand object of all their spells the husband or wife. If any yird, or earth, stick to the root, that is tocher, or fortune; and the taste of the custoc, that is, the heart of the stem, is indicative of the natural temper and disposition. Lastly, the stems, or, to give them their ordinary appellation, the runts, are placed somewhere above the head of the door; and the Christian names of the people whom chance brings into

They steek their e'en, an' graip an' wale,
For muckle anes an' straught anes.
Poor hav'rel Will fell aff the drift,

An' wander'd thro' the Bow-kail,

An' pow't, for want o' better shift,

A runt was like a sow-tail,

Sae bow't that night.

V.

Then, straught or crooked, yird or nane,

They roar an' cry a' throu❜ther;

The vera wee-things, todlin, rin

Wi' stocks out-owre their shouther;

An' gif the custoc's sweet or sour,

Wi' joctelegs they taste them;

Syne coziely, aboon the door,

Wi' cannie care, they 've placed them
To lie that night.

VI.

The lasses staw frae 'mang them a',

To pou their stalks o' corn *;

the house, are, according to the priority of placing the runts, the names in question.

* They go to the barn-yard, and pull each, at three