IV.
HALLOWEEN.

Then first and foremost, through the kail,

Their stocks* maun a' be sought ance; The following poem will, by many readers, be well enough They steek their e'en, an' graip an' wale, understood ; but for the sake of those who are unac

For muckle anes an' straught anes. quainted with the manners and traditions of the country

Poor hav’rel Will fell aff the drift, where the scene is cast, notes are added, to give some account of the principal charms and spells of that night,

An’ wander'd through the bow-kail, so big with prophecy to the peasantry in the west of An pow't for want o' better shift, Scotland. The passion of prying into futurity makes a A runt was like a sow-tail, striking part of the history of human nature in its rude

Sae bow't that night. state, in all ages and nations: and it may be some entertainment to a philosophic mind, if any such should

V. honour the author with a perusal, to see the remains of it among the more unenlightened in our own.

Then, straught or crooked, yird or nane,

They roar and cry a' throu'ther

The vera wee things, todlin, rin,
Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain,

Wi' stocks out-owre their shouther;
The simple pleasures of the lowly train;

An' gif the custoc's sweet or sour,
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,
One native charm, than all the gloss of art

Wi' joctelegs they taste them ;
GOLDSMITH. Syne coziely, aboon the door,

Wi'cannie care they place them
I.

To lie that night.
Upon that night, when fairies light,

VI.
On Cassilis Downanst dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,

The lasses staw frae 'mang them a',
On sprightly coursers prance;

To pou their stalks o' corn ;t
Or for Colean the route is ta’en,

But Rab slips out, an'jinks about,
Beneath the moon's pale beams;

Behint the muckle thorn :
There, up the covent to stray an'rove

He grippet Nelly hard an' fast;
Amang the rocks and streams,

Loud skirl'd a' the lasses ;
To sport that night.

But her tap-pickle maist was lost,

When kiuttlin in the fause-housef
II.

Wi' him that night.
Amang the bonnic winding banks,

VII.
Where Doon rins, wimpling clear,
Where Bruceş ance ruled the martial ranks,

The auld guidwife's weel hoordet nits
An' shook his Carrick spear,

Are round an' round divided,
Some merry, friendly countra folks,

An’ monie lads' an' lasses' fates
Together did convene,

Are there that night decided :
To burn their nits, an' pou their stocks,

Some kindle, couthie, side by side
An' haud their Halloween

An'burn thegither trimly ;
Fu’ blythe that night.

* The first ceremony of Halloween is, pulling each a III.

stock, or plant of kail. They must go out, hand in hand, The lasses feat, an' cleanly neat,

with eyes shut, and pull the first they meet with: its being

big orlitlle, straight or crooked, is prophetie of the size and Mair braw than when they're fine;

shape of the grand object of all their spells-the husband Their faces blythe, fu'sweetly kythe,

or wife. If any yird, or earth, stick to the root, that is Hearts leal, an’ warm, an' kin':

tocher, or fortune; and the taste of the custos, that is, the The lads sae trig, wi' wooer-babs,

heart of the stem, is indicative of the natural temper and Weel knotted on their garten,

disposition. Lastly, the stems, or, to give them their

ordinary appellation, the runts, are placed somewhere Some unco blate, an' some wi' gabs,

above the head of the door: and the Christian names of Gar lasses hearts gang startin

the people whom chance brings into the house, are, accordWhyles fast at night. ing to the priority of placing the runts, the names in

question.

† They go to the barn-yard and pull each, at three seve. * Is thought to be a night when witches, devils, and ral times, a stalk of oats. If the third stalk wants the other mischief-making beings, are all abroad on their top-pickle, that is, the grain at the top of the stalk, the baneful, midnight errands; particularly those aërial party in question will come to the marriage bed any thing people the fairies, are said on that night to hold a grand but a maid. anniversary.

I When the corn is in a doubtful state, by being 100 + Certain litle, romantic, rocky, green hills, in the green, or wet, the stack-builder, by means of old timber, neighbourhood of the ancient seat of the Earls of Cas. &c., makes a large apartment in his stack, with an open. silis.

ing in the side which is fairest exposed to the wind: this I A noted cavern near Colean house, called the Cove he calls a fause-house. of Colean: which, as Cassilis Downans, is famed in § Burning the nuts is a famous charm. They name the country story for being a favourite haunt of fairies. lad and lass to each particular nut, as they lay them in

$ The famous family of that name, the ancestors of the fire, and accordingly as they burn quietly together, Robert, the great deliverer of his country, werc Earls of or start from beside one another, the course and issue of Carrick.

the courtship will be.

Some start awa wi' saucie pride,

XIII.
And jump out-owre the chimlie

Wee Jenny to her grannie says,
Fu’high that night.

“Will ye go wi' me, grannie?
VIII.

I'll eat the apple* at the glass,

I gat frae uncle Johnie ;"
Jean slips in twa, wi' tentie e'e;

She fuff’t her pipe wi' sic a lunt,
Wha 'twas she wadna tell;

In wrath she was sae vap'rin,
But this is Jock, an' this is me,

She noticed na, an azle brunt
She says in to hersel:

Her braw new worset apron
He bleezed owre her, an' she owre him,

Out through that night.
As they wad never mair part;
Till fuff! he started up the lum,

XIV.
And Jean had e'en a sair heart

“Ye little skelpie-limmer's face !
To see't that night.

How daur you try sic sportin,

As seek the foul thief ony place,
IX.

For him to spae your fortune?
Poor Willie, wi' his bow-kail runt,

Nae doubt but ye may get a sight!
Was brunt wi' primsie Mallie ;

Great cause ye hae to fear it;
An' Mallie, nae doubt, took the drunt,

For monie a ane has gotten a fright,
To be compared to Willie:

An' lived an' died deleerit
Mall's nit lap out wi' pridefu' Aing,

On sic a night.
An' her ain fit it burnt it;

XV.
While Willie lap, and swoor by jing,

« Ae hairst afore the Sherra-moor,
'Twas just the way he wanted

I mind't as weel' yestreen,
To be that night.

I was a gilpey then, I'm sure

I was na past fyfteen :
X.

The simmer had been cauld an’ wat,
Nell had the fause-house in her min',

An' stuff was unco green;
She pits hersel an’ Rob in ;

An'aye a rantin kirn we gat,
In loving bleeze they sweetly join,

An'just on Halloween
Till white in ase they're sobbin:

It fell that night.
Nell's heart was dancin at the view,

XVI.
She whisper'd Rob to look fort:

“ Our stibble-rig was Rab M'Graen,
Rob, stowlins, prie'd her bonnie mou,
Fu' cozie in the neuk for't,

A clever, sturdy fallow;
Unseen that night.

He's sin got Eppie Sim wi' wean,

That lived in Achmacalla :
XI.

He gat hemp-seed,t I mind it weel,

An' he made unco light o't;
But Merran sat behint their backs,

But monie a day was by himsel,
Her thoughts on Andrew Bell;
She lea'es them gashin at their cracks,

He was sae sairly frighted

That vera night.”
And slips out by hersel :
She through the yard the nearest taks,

XVII.
An' to the kiln she goes then,

Then up gat sechtin Jamie Fleck,
An' darklins grapit for the bauks,

An' he swoor by his conscience,
And in the blue-clue* throws then,

That he could saw hemp-seed a peck ;
Right fear't that night.

For it was a' but nonsense ;

The auld guidman raught down the pock, XII.

An' out a handful gied him ;
An'aye she wint, an'aye she swat,

Syne bad him slip frae 'mang the folk,
I wat she made nae jaukin ;

Sometimes when nae ane seed him :
Till something held within the pat,

An' try't that night.
Guid L-! but she was quakin!
But whether 'twas the deil himsel,

* Take a candle, and go alone to a looking-glass; eat

an apple before it, and some traditions say, you should Or whether 'twas a bauken,

comb your hair, all the time; the face of your conjugal Or whether it was Andrew Bell,

companion, to be, will be seen in the glass, as if peeping She did na wait on talkin

over your shoulder. To spier that night.

+ Steal out unperceived, and sow a handful of hempseed; harrowing it with any thing you can conveniently

draw after you. Repeat now and then, “ Hemp-seed, I • Whoever would, with success, try this spell, must saw thee, hemp-seed, I saw thee; and him (or her) that strictly observe these directions : Steal out, all alone, 10 is to be my true love, come after me and pou thee.” Look the kiln, and, darkling, throw into the pot a clue of blue over your left shoulder, and you will see the appearance yarn; wind it in a new clue off the old one; and, towards of the person invoked, in the attitude of pulling hemp. the latter end, something will hold the thread; demand Some traditions say, "come after me, and shaw thee," wha hauds ? i. e. who holds ? an answer will be returned that is, show thyself: in which case it simply appears frorn the kiln-poi, by naming the Christian and surname Others omit the harrowing, and say, "come after me, and of your future spouse.

harrow thee."

S